Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Black Widow
by Doibznic
Summary: This is a story about my OC, mainly told by her p.o.v., with a few other OCs I've made in the mix up. Raelisa Sparrow is on a top secret mission by the Fuhrer himself, under a certain Colonel's orders, to watch over a certain State Alchemist and his brother... Secretivly, of course. There's past OCxOC but it'll turn out to be OCxLing in time. May continue if reviews requests it.
1. Meet Red

Hi, my name's Raelisa Sparrow. I'll be turning eighteen this coming new year. I live in a little place called Central in this 'wonderful' country of Amestris with my relatives. I work with the State Military with the title as Lieutenant Colonel as my rank as I work for none other the Fuhrer himself, King Bradley. I guess you can say I'm one of his grunts, but hey, it's a pretty good cushy-desk job…

Just kidding. It's actually a 'little' more complicated and serious than that. Y'see, my title as Lieutenant Colonel was given to me by Bradley as more like a _cover up_ for my _real_ duty. In the office, I may be known as Raelisa Sparrow, but when I'm out on my top secret mission ordered by Bradley and by Bradley himself, I become… _Red: The Black Widow._

I really actually work for a small secret force in the military called the Secret Amestrian Forces of Assassins, or S.A.F.A. for short. Never heard of it? Well, that's the point of it. Our job is more dangerous than anything you can think of in the military. We are the ones who fight in silence to protect our country of Amestris from the threats that occurs. We are the ones who does the impossible, the unthinkable without a second thought to protect our country and it's countrymen.

Myself, and my fellow Assassins are assigned to do our job quickly, cleanly, and smart without anyone finding out about us – friend and foe alike…

So again, I am… Raelisa Sparrow aka Red; the Black Widow. My job is to serve and protect this country by any means, seek out my enemies… and _babysit_ a certain somebody…

Yeah, from being one of the fierce assassins the S.A.F.A. Force has ever had and I'm stuck doing the State Alchemist Inspection, or babysitting as I like to call it. What a fall…

Let me explain the general gist of my tale from the beginning when I first applied to S.A.F.A.…

As you can maybe already tell, I wasn't born into a luxurious household… okay so I was, but I wasn't raised to wear dresses or sit around and drink tea to be like one by that means. You'd think my mother would be in some sort of way, but once you see her, you'll understand plenty enough. In fact, it was my mother who made me who I am today, which is kinda scary if you don't know the two of us.

My mother was the one who taught me how to fight, to not have any fear come across in front of me no matter what I face, to be strong like the men she commanded around us – maybe even stronger. I started at an early age of seven. That was about the same time when I started to get interested in alchemy as well. Day after day throughout the years, my mother taught me how to fight on my own by day as I taught myself the ways of alchemy by night – or until I've gone to bed.

By the time I was about twelve years old, I was already out with the men on the field participating in their field exercises up in the North, and I learned how to survive out in the coldest environment ever. It wasn't until a year later that King Bradley had found out of my tutelage under my mother and he came to see me at my home in Fort Briggs…

_"I've heard rumors about a talented young woman from the North… But I never expected her to be living in a place like this…" Bradley said before turning his head over to me. "Or that the young woman is only thirteen years old of age. I suppose that someone with her talents could only have been taught by someone of the likes of you, General."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"I wonder… Does she have any plans to use her talents in the future?" Bradley began. "Because if not, I think I have a wondrous proposition for your daughter, that is if you're interested… Have you ever heard of S.A.F.A.?"_

And so on that day, my mother agreed to put me in S.A.F.A., once I've met requirements and standards held by the Fuhrer himself – privately, of course. I was put through numerous tests from survival exercises to judgemental tests, even strategic tests. And believe me when I say that was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I thought my mother's training was rough.

I remember the conversation with the Fuhrer in his office the day I was officially named a part of the S.A.F.A. Force like it was yesterday. I've never been in his office before this day, but I vividly remembered the chill that ran down my spine. It was like nothing I've ever felt, it was worse than I got whenever I made my mother angry, _much worse_. A feeling that haunts me to this day…

_"Armstrong?" Bradley questioned before he turned his head up to me. "By chance are you related to Major Armstrong and them?"_

_"Yes, sir. He's my uncle."_

_"Ah, that answers my question with your relation with the General as well. And yet you go by the name of 'Sparrow', why is that?" He asked curiously while turning back to the piece of paper – my file – in his hands._

_I felt my stomach turn once he asked that question, but I managed to answer him. "It's my father's name." I began standing tall with my hands behind my back. "It is to avoid publicity as well as hostage negotiations. I mean, the Armstrong family is one of the famous families in the country…" I then smirked and laughed inwardly. "Then again, my mother would rather keep word that she has conceived a child to, you know, keep her current militaristic standing and image as it is today."_

_The Fuhrer snorted at this comment about my mother as he placed my file on his desk before clasping his hands together, holding that smile on his face. "Well I must say, your file looks good, very good. And your skills for this important position is what we need. Everything is clear on my end."_

_"So this means…?" I urged him to continue._

_"Yes, it does. Congratulations, Sparrow. Welcome to S.A.F.A.." He announced as he stood up from his chair. "By here on-out while under duty, your codename will be known as… _Red_."_

_I looked at him as if he was serious about this. I knew where he gotten that name from. I mean, I was standing there in his office in a blue military uniform with my violet hair, instead of having it pulled up into a high and spiky ponytail on my head was now dyed red, having my hidden bangs fall over my forehead and over my eyes slightly all while having my hair pulled back loosely in a ponytail._

_I raised my right hand up to my hair. "Sir, are you implying to my hair color you asked me to change while on-duty?" I asked him, trying to hold back my tone. He just started to laugh._

_"Is it offensive to you?" He asked. I dropped my head in defeat._

_"No, sir…"_

_Of course, you can't complain to the leader of the country. One, that's just stupid to think that the Fuhrer would really care that much about complaints. And two, arguing with the Fuhrer would be just as useless as telling my mother to 'chill out'. Trust me, it does not work one bit._

_Bradley stepped away from his desk and stepped over towards the open window with his hands behind his back. "Now then, even though there will be times you'll be on your own, everybody in the S.A.F.A. Force is given a partner that you'll work together in accomplishing your missions." He began before turning his head over to me. "You'll be introduced to your new partner as well as the others once we're finished here. Just a reminder that you'll both be tested on how well you two do on your upcoming mission."_

_I started to question this statement. A mission already after such short notice…?_

_"Well that concludes this interview. There's your uniform on the table behind you in that parcel. I suggest you put that on before you meet the other assassins. You're dismissed."_

_"Sir." I saluted him before I turned my heel to the table behind me and took the brown parcel with me on my way out of the Fuhrer's office._

That was over three years ago. And since then, I've been on many different kinds of missions, from reconnaissance, to hits, to stalking. Everything really, and I've met so many people along the way, the good, the bad, and even the 'strange', alike. Not everything was all fun and games though, I've been in a couple big messes that ended up in the hospital a few times, and received a few angry phone calls and some unexpected 'visits' from my mother. I even lost a good friend of mine as well…

But enough dwelling on the past for now anyways. Right now though, it's time to tell my story of a certain State Alchemist and his brother's travels, as well as my tale of people that came and gone throughout the years…


	2. Chapter 1 - Red's new clients

**Hi-ya, name's Doibznic, or Doibz, (don't ask where the name come from, I have no clue) and yeah, this is actually my first fanfic that I've written... Ever. And I'm still learning the ropes.**

**So, like my story description, this is a story about my OC, Raelisa Sparrow, told mainly in her P.O.V., but there will be some from other characters (just not in this one, sorry).**

**And just a point, my OC character(s) speaks different languages from time to time and I kinda jump from one to the other every now and then. Some of you who speak them might recognize them, I don't, he he. I use Google Translate on my ipod to cheat a little... which now I think about it, a lot of the sentences and phrases are probably incorrect...**

**ANYWAY... This is my first chapter for my story, and I hope you enjoy!**

**~Doibz**

* * *

_I made my way into the women's change room without being seen by any of the military personnel of the Command Center. Surprisingly enough, the entire room was empty, much to my favor. I stepped inside one of the stalls and closed the curtain behind me. After placing the box on the small bench and finally opened it up, I pulled out my new uniform._

_I held up my jacket in front of me. It was completely black and gray with long sleeves and a small opening with a zipper was on the front of the chest. On the left shoulder showed the Amestrian crest etched in dark blue, nearly camouflaging in the black fabric. In my opinion, it really looked more like a hoodie than it did an assassin uniform really. All it really needed was pockets in the front and some draw strings for the hood._

_I hung the jacket carefully on one of the hooks in the change stall and turned back to the box before me, pulling out a pair of black spandex leggings, big combat boots and a small pair of fingerless gloves. After pulling all of the box's contents out before me, I removed my blue military uniform and placed it inside the empty box before changing into my new uniform._

_After changing, I took the parcel and fled out of the women's change room via the open window at the end of the room and climbed up to the rooftop of the Command Center. With my head held high, I turned towards the sight before me to see Central City before me stretching out as far as I could see. With a smirk on my face, I turned away and started to head towards the Assassin Headquarter room, which was ironically just a short ways away from the Fuhrer's office window._

_The moment I climbed through the window into the room, I noticed four other people in a similar uniform that I wore spun around and arm themselves against me. I held up my hand up defensively and sighed inwardly. "Ah, great. Not even five seconds and I'm on the bad list already." I commented aloud as I fully entered the room with the cloaked men and woman._

_The one man was a shorter brunette with bright blue eyes dressed in what seemed to look like to be a vest styled assassin uniform that had both a collar and a hood. Underneath it he wore a black long sleeved sweater with elbow pads and knuckle guards on his short fingerless gloves. He also wore baggy black slacks with black ankle-high boots and knee pads._

_The woman beside him was just a tad taller than him thanks to her bright blonde hair that seemed to curl up at her sides. She was similarly dressed the same as the brunette man, but she wore only a high collar and a sleeveless black shirt under her jacket. Her arms were bare other than the long gloves that came up to her elbows. She wore tight black spandex, like I did, but her boots came up past her knees unlike mine which stopped just under my knees._

_The other two, which I assumed were twins since they looked exactly alike, were both tall blonde haired men that dressed nearly the same as the other. They both wore dark goggles on their foreheads, the one was tinted red while the other was tinted yellow. Their hair was much lighter than the woman's but not as dark as the shorter man's and was much spikier than mine when I held it up into a ponytail._

_"So, you must be the new recruit." The brunette man asked, I nodded._

_"Who are you, red?" One blonde man asked me as I saw him looking up to my bright red hair, causing me to snort._

_"_Red_, apparently…" I said rolling my eyes, snorting inwardly at the name I must use. "The Fuhrer's got some strange sense of humor…"_

_The woman in the group of men snorted at this. "Yeah, he does." She expressed rather snooty to me._

_"Shut up and be nice for a change." A shorter brunette man snarled at her, causing the woman to pout and cross her arms over her chest. He then smirked and turned back to me with a hand extended out to me. "Nice to meetcha, Red. I'm Février, and she's Mars."_

_It took me a moment to register their names. Once I did, I snorted aloud and grasped his hand. "February and March in Cretan?"_

_"Yeah, apparently the Fuhrer's not great with coming up with codenames…"_

_"Okay…" I began before turning towards the pair of twins nearby. "And you are…?"_

_The one man was about to speak up until the other one interrupted him. "He's Birdy. I'm Leo." He said, earning himself a glare from the other twin._

_"It's Oiseau…"_

_I furrowed my eyebrows inwardly at this. Why is he named 'bird' in Cretan for some reason? I tossed the question out of my mind before I nodded towards them, acknowledging their presence. "Okay, nice to meet your acquaintances…"_

_After one more turned back to each of their faces, it came to my attention that they were already paired up with their partners. Février noticed this and snorted. "So, I guess you've noticed your partner's not here. That's likely of him. He's not very… sociable, at the moment…"_

_"Or polite." Mars added rather harshly as she spun her head away from us. "Good luck getting along with him, nobody does. He called me a skank, that prick…" All the men in the room snorted at this, making the blonde haired woman turn her head back and give them all a deathly glare. "You're all assholes." She hissed at them, making me smirk._

_I heard a sigh come from behind me from the window. "All right, all right, I know, I'm late. Sorry." An accented voice called out, which I assumed was to be Aerugoan._

_I spun my head around and saw as a tall man with black hair covering his right dark eyes came in through the window with a frown on his face. He was dressed in his black assassin uniform that had long loose sleeves and a high collar, higher than Mars', but it opened up in the front by a short zipper that hid behind a bullet-proof vest he wore over his jacket. He wore a pair of dark jeans that had his tool belt strapped around his waist and thighs tightly. In his right gloved hand, he was carrying a large heavy black case over his shoulder. In my opinion looked as if it he just came back from a mission._

_"Hey, glad you could make it back in one piece. Any problems along the way?" Février asked with a smile on his face, making the new coming man sigh again._

_"Lots, but dealt with it anyways…" He said before he turned his head over towards me, probably caught his eye on my bright red hair. He turned over to me and stopped in his tracks. "Oh hey, are you my new partner?" He asks._

_Before I could answer him, Février spoke up. "Yeah, her name's-"_

_"I was asking her." The man gave a cold glance of annoyance over towards him before turning back to me with a warm smile on his face. "What's your name, young lady?"_

_When he asked me that, I had to force myself from blushing and I silently thanked my mother for the lessons at this moment. I turned my eyes over to the other people in the room before taking notice of them looking to the man with wide eyes, I raised an eyebrow at this before turning back to him._

_"I'm Red."_

_"Red? Huh, well that's the Fuhrer alright." He said as he held out a hand to me in a friendly manner. "Ramon. It's a pleasure… partner."_

* * *

I let out a deep sigh as I plopped my sweat slick head on my hand. This is a perfect example of the phrase 'work fucking sucks'. Here I am, sitting atop of a building in a place called Reole, a small town in the Eastern Area. It's kinda a lame place coming from somebody with an alchemist's point of view.

I've been in almost every town this country has, but this place was the first I've been to where the townspeople are sooo followers of a religion that I've never even heard of. The head of this town, I suppose you can call that, is somebody by the name of Father Cornello, is reading passages from some stupid bible or whatever he has aloud over a speaker that connects throughout the whole town and their radios. It's strange really, as soon as the clock strikes, everybody in the whole town goes silent and turns on their radios or listen to the speakers nearby to hear him say his lines…

I had to force myself from nodding off into slumber under the hot sun above us while listening to the boring recite, and I thought how stupid it was to wear black directly in the sun's rays, talk about lack of common sense in Bradley's department. Sure, he has different uniforms for all of us for each region, like a winter uniform and all, but he forgot to include one for hotter climates. And it's even worse on my part. With pale skin like mine, my forehead burn sooo much faster and easier than others. It's not even funny…

"Stupid Bradley… El sentido común dice que no se visten de negro directamente los rayos del sol… (Common sense says don't wear black directly in sun's rays…)" I cursed in Aerugoian as I'm practically baking myself on the rooftop. I pulled off my glove and looked at my hand, seeing a perfect tan-turning-burnt mark where my fingers were cut off by the gloves. I dropped my head backwards. "Faaack…"

Of course there's a reason why I'm here in this parched desert anyways, but let me tell you how it even started up to this point…

* * *

_It started on in the middle of the day as myself and Mars decided to lie on top of the Central Command Center's rooftop looking up towards the sky, watching the clouds slowly roll on by as we ate our lunch. For the first time since being in the S.A.F.A. Force, it seems the two of us were finally alone with each other allowing us to finally have a reasonable conversation and we bonded with each other. The two of us, along with Leo, were the only ones that were not on any current missions for S.A.F.A.. The rest of them were out doing personal assignments by order of the Fuhrer._

_So the two of us decided to go out in our regular military clothing and use our true identities instead of our codenames, which was nice for a change._

_After a while of silence, I spoke up. "Where's February at?" I finally asked out._

_"He's out on a reconnaissance mission at the Southern Border getting Intel for Bradley. He should be back by the end of the week… What about the prick?"_

_I let out a snort to her nickname for him. Throughout the time I've been in the group, I've come to learn that Mars _reaaally_ doesn't like Ramon for some reason, though I wasn't told exactly why yet. It's quite humorous to see the two of them sat down at a table together. They either sit there in complete silence or they start bickering at each other until Ramon wins the 'annoying contest' causing Mars to storm out of the room. I really should ask him someday to why he does that._

_"I heard Ramon's in Aerugo with Birdy looking for some big-shot weapon smugglers to take out. Not sure how long they'll be…"_

_"Hm… Hope it's not too serious…" She began. "Mind you I don't give a shit about the prick, but Birdy's not that bad of a guy once you get to know him."_

_"Do you really have a problem with Ramon?"_

_"Of course I do! He's the biggest asshole I've ever met!" She began turning her head over to me with a 'you-can't-be-serious-how-can-you-not-see-that' look plastered on her face. "Seriously, when he joined S.A.F.A. four years ago, he was a complete selfish, arrogant, little pretty-boy bastard that seriously needed a punch in the face back into reality. Not even a week went by and he already picked out rude nicknames for all of us!"_

_My eyebrow rose up as Mars continued. "Yeah. He was _that_ bad. He's _still_ like that! The only reason the other guys get along with him is because of his sarcasm."_

_"…Are you sure you're still talking about this Ramon?" I questioned._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Well the way you're describing him is nearly the exact opposite from how I know him as."_

_It was true. Throughout the time I've been partners with Ramon, he never once done any of the things Mars just described him to me. In fact he's really kind, considerate, and protective of me, and well, including the small points of teasing here and there. Other than that, Ramon's been pretty much… a gentleman, really._

_"Well you haven't worked with the guy long enough to know it. The reason he's 'acting' the way you think he is 'cause he's got some kind of thing for you." She began before holding up a hand out to me. "Listen to me, I don't like that guy – not just because of his pissy attitude that you don't seem to take notice. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on him just in case."_

_I let out a humorous snort of doubt. "Yeah. Sure. Will do."_

_"Hey!" A voice called out, causing the two of us to sit up and turn our heads over to see Leo poking his head from over the edge of the rooftop. "Bradley wants to see _Red_ in his office for an assignment, like _now_."_

_"'Kay!" I called out, dismissing the man to retreat from our sights. I let out a sigh of wonder. "I hope it's nothing too boring…"_

_"Pfft! I'd take it no questions asked if it'll keep me from staying on the sidelines." Mars snorted as she watched me stand up and brushed off the crumbs of my lunch from my chest._

_"You'd take it without finding out what it is first?" I questioned curiously as I started to head out. "What would happen if Bradley ordered you to baby-sit a little obnoxious brat for the next three months? Or clean the latrines in the west end for a week?"_

_"I'd take my chances… And I highly doubt Bradley would order that for any of us See ya."_

_I waived her off as I leapt off the edge of the rooftop into the Assassin room. I turned to my locker and grabbed my assassin uniform before I quickly went into the change room. After spending a few minutes getting into my uniform, I stepped out, taking my long violet hair out of my high spiky ponytail. I tossed her blue military uniform into my locker as I reached out for my red hair dye and quickly used alchemy to change my violet locks into my signature deep red hair style. Once I finished adjusting my hair, I closed up my locker and headed back towards the window of the large secret room._

_Before long, I climbed into the Fuhrer's office, noticing the Fuhrer seated in his chair behind his desk and another military soldier with the rank of Colonel opposite to Bradley. The surprised man stood there with wide eyes showing his dark eyes through his jet black hair, his hand was reaching out towards his pocket._

_Bradley let out a chuckle to the Colonel's actions as he held up a hand to him. "At ease, Mustang. She's one of us I assure you." He said making the man named Mustang lower his guard. Bradley then turned his head over to me with a smile on his face. "That was rather quick timing. Impressive."_

_"Now, Colonel Mustang, meet Red, my youngest and talented member in the S.A.F.A. Force. Red, Colonel Roy Mustang." Bradley introduced the two of us, urging me to acknowledge the Colonel with a simple nod of my head._

_Mustang blinked twice at me before he turned back to Bradley. "S.A.F.A.? What's that?" He questioned._

_"It's the Secret Amestrian Forces of Assassins, a group of top Amestrian soldiers developed by the military since nearly two hundred years who works directly under the Fuhrer." Bradley began. "These men and women who partake in this title carries out the impossible – secretively and quickly as possible. Red here is one of such."_

_I let out a small smile while Bradley continued. "Now," He paused as he turned back to me. "Red, you'll be working under Colonel Mustang in a top secret inspecting assignment."_

_"An inspecting assignment, sir?" I questioned as I stood up straight._

_"Yes. Tell me… Have you heard of a young man by the name of… Edward Elric?"_

_I have indeed heard of Edward Elric, it's really hard not to especially when you're in S.A.F.A.. The news behind this was that this kid's a eleven or twelve year old kid who's surprisingly talented in alchemy, rumor even has it that the kid can perform alchemy without a circle, and even more surprisingly, Bradley's accepted him in taking the State Alchemist Exam not too long ago. Myself and the other Assassins questioned Bradley's decision about this since we felt that we should provide a background check on this kid, but since then we've dared not to confront him about it._

_"Isn't that the kid who took the State Alchemy exam just a few days ago?"__I paused and thought for a moment before my face paled inwardly. Wait don't tell me that this kid…_

_"That's right. He has been chosen as the country's youngest State Alchemist. Which brings me to why you are here." Bradley said turning towards Mustang. "Colonel Mustang here will be commanding him in the East. He has an consideration that Edward Elric, accompanied by his younger brother Alphonse Elric, would be spending the majority of their time traveling around to further on in their research while performing their duties for the military. I figured since you are skilled in tracking and whatnot, you'd perform his Secret Alchemist Inspection for the next few months… and maybe keep an eye out for them – keep them out of trouble- _without_ being spotted by the pair, of course."_

_I smirked dumbly inwardly as I thought back to the conversation I had back with Mars. No fucking way… I'm baby-sitting a brat for a couple months… What are the odds…?_

_I wonder if that'll mean Mars ends up cleaning toilets for a week?_

* * *

_"Ce sont en effet les chances… (What are the odds indeed…)"_

_"What was that?"_

_"Oh, it's nothing, Colonel."_

_A day after the meeting with the Fuhrer and Colonel Mustang, I said my goodbyes to the remaining members of S.A.F.A. in the private office, and I mentioned to Mars that I'm going to be 'baby-sitting a brat for a couple of months', which both to let out a bellow of laughter to the irony, before I accompanied Mustang back to East City's Command Center along with his First Lieutenant who goes by the name Riza Hawkeye._

_On my way there, I thought about Ramon and wondered what he's doing. I snorted at this. Also after spending some time with him on and off missions, I've learnt that he has this huge craving for powdered donuts, just an all-out craving. Chances are, he's probably sitting down eating a donut in one hand while shooting a gun in the other. I laughed inwardly at this thought. Guess I won't be seeing Ramon for a little while longer…_

_After the long train ride into East City, I've finally stepped into the Colonel's private office. It was a simple office, I took note. A plain desk towards the windows, a coffee table in the middle of the room with two couches surrounding it. I took my dark hood off of my head as Mustang took a seat behind his desk. "A plain office for a plain soldier?"_

_"If you want to say it that way, sure." Mustang replied with a smirk on his face._

_I turned my head over to the Colonel. "So… What can you tell me about this Edward Elric kid? I mean, I _am_ going to be watching him for the next how-long." I paused. "What makes him so… _special?_"_

_Mustang's smirk went down as he inspected me for a moment. "Before I answer that… What's this Secret Alchemist Inspection the Fuhrer was talking about earlier?"_

_I smirked at this as I sat down on one of the arms of the couches. "It's a program that the Fuhrer made to inspect the newly selected alchemists that joined the military, a precautionary measure, if you so will call it. One of us of S.A.F.A. examines the State Alchemist for a certain length of time, stick their noses in their research, keep an eye on where they're going, and all that – secretively, of course." I've began before I remembered a file that Mars had of his name back in Central. "You've been through one too, Colonel."_

_"I have?"_

_I nodded my head. "Our findings are up to us to wither or not to report it in to the Fuhrer. Just between you and me, some of us in S.A.F.A. don't really like the Fuhrer…" I turned my head back to Mustang. "So far you're still in the clear."_

_Mustang shrugged in his seat. "Well then… I suppose you want to know about Elric, huh?"_

_"Please."_

_"Edward is from a tiny town called Resembool here in the east. He and his younger brother, Alphonse has been studying alchemy since they were younger…" He began, stopping unsure wither or not to continue. I started to question this behavior._

_"Go on…" I urged._

_"At the time, the Ishvalan war ended and many State Alchemists resigned their titles, which led me to lead on to recruit more alchemists into the military. I was still a Lieutenant Colonel at the time when I was informed that a talented alchemist lived in Resembool by the name of 'Edward Elric', and I thought about recruiting him in the military. Little did I know that it was just a young boy just eleven years old." He paused as his eyes narrowed. "When I arrived at his address, my Lieutenant and I found a bloody mess on the floor from…"_

_As he trailed off, I waited a few moments before speaking up. "What was this 'bloody mess'?"_

_"…Human Transmutation."_

_My eyes narrowed at this. Ah, now it makes sense. The kid survived after committing the taboo… In alchemy, Human Transmutation is considered a taboo among alchemist that it's against the law. For a kid his age, he's no ordinary alchemist after all… "What happened after this?"_

_"I went to their neighbor's in search for Edward, which then I found he survived the rebound, suffering the loss of his right arm and left leg. I then discovered that Edward's younger Alphonse also partook in the transmutation, losing his body entirely and had soul bonded to a suit of armor."_

_Seriously? That's incredible…! How can a kid at his age be so knowledgeable in that kind of alchemy in the first place? He transmuted his brother's soul into a suit of armor and the two of them survived Human Transmutation. No wonder Edward so easily became a State Alchemist…_

_Or could it be that Bradley had some ideas with him…?_

_"And I assume that it was you nudged Edward into joining the military?"_

_"Yes. For them to have access to the Military's libraries to further their research and help them get their bodies back."_

_I crossed my arms over my chest and turned my head away from the Colonel. "Does Bradley know about Edward's illegal Human Transmutation attempt… or Alphonse's body?"_

_"No. I haven't told him. We're going under the impression that Edward lost his arm during the Ishvalan conflict, and that Alphonse wears the armor to protect himself."_

_A thoughtful sigh escaped from my throat. Edward's excuse, I could believe, but I wondered how long people will believe Alphonse's case for. "That's interesting…" I replied._

_"After knowing this, are you going to give this information to the Fuhrer?"_

_I smirked at this. "Nah." She said turning back to the Colonel. "Like I said before, some of us at S.A.F.A. don't _like_ Bradley."_

_After a moment of silence between us, the two of us let out a short snort of laughter. "I think this will be more exciting than I thought." Mustang began. "Well, Red, I'm about to bring him in and award him of his certificate… Are you going to watch?"_

_"No, but I'll eavesdrop from the other room if you don't mind." I began standing up from the couch._

_"Red…" Mustang repeated, making me stop in my tracks. "Weird name."_

_"It's my codename 'thoughtfully' given to me by Bradley. Couldn't you tell?" I smirked as I pointed to my hair._

_"He does have that sense of humor…" Mustang snorted as I continued my way into the other room._

_After a few minutes of silence, the door to Mustang's main office opened and closed. "You wanted to see me, Colonel?" A voice called out. That must be Edward… I thought as I leant up against the wall to listen in on the two._

_"Yes. I got your results from your exam. You passed." I heard Mustang opened up a drawer to his desk. "This silver pocket watch will serve as proof of State Certification. This envelope contains your certificate of appointment." He paused before he snorted. "And it would seem our Fuhrer is not without a sense of certain _irony_." He expressed loudly, making me smirk._

_"And why is that?" Edward asked curiously._

_"Nothing. Congratulations. You've just been officially a dog of the military."_

_A few footsteps stepped over to Mustang's desk before returning to one of the couches. "'By order of Fuhrer King Bradley, this document certifies Edward Elric has been appointed to the post as State Alchemist, and his hereby granted the title 'Fullmetal''…" He paused. "'Fullmetal'?" He questioned, making me smirk._

_Steel appendages… of course of course Bradley would call him that…_

_"That's right. Along with their commissions, State Alchemists also receives a codename. Officially you'll be known as… the Fullmetal Alchemist."_

_"… I like that. It's nice and intimidating… I think that'll suit me just fine…"_

_"That is all. You're dismissed, Fullmetal." Mustang addressed before I heard the door to his office open and close once again. After a few moments of silence, he called out to me. "Well, Red?"_

_I stood up and stepped into the room with Mustang. "Fullmetal, huh?" I began. "Something tells me there's going to be a mix up with his name…"_

_"What was that?"_

_"Nothing, nothing…" I assured him before I looked outside the window to see a small blonde haired boy with a bright red coat walk out of the Command Center down the street. I narrowed my eyes at this as I had my doubts. "Is that him? The walking red-mini-target?"_

_"Yep."_

_I gaped at this. "He's so tiny for a twelve-year-old…!" I commented, making Mustang snort. "Well… He shouldn't be _too hard_ to track and find… Best to get going after him before he wanders off too far, I suppose…"_

_"Might as well. He's probably heading back home. Let me know what he's doing too, Red…" He paused before smirking. "It's weird calling you Red when I don't even know your real name… How will I know that it'll be you when you report in?"_

_"You'll know when it's time." I assured as I left his office through the window._

* * *

And so yeah. Since then nearly three years ago when Edward became a State Alchemist not too long after joining S.A.F.A., I've been watching him and his brother Alphonse, on and off throughout the years silently helping them and keeping them, or rather Edward, out of much trouble as possible. Right now they're just hanging around down in a food bar in the streets below, I was up on a rooftop nearby keeping my position behind Edward's back.

After a while of stalking them, I suppose you can say that now, I've learnt that the Elric brothers were quite interested in finding something called the Philosopher's Stone. It's a powerful amplifier that increases one's alchemical prowess and even break the Laws of Equivalent Exchange. More or less, it's a prized possession that alchemists crave for. It is said that it is only a myth, but hey, in this country, after all of the things I've experienced and seen throughout the years, I suppose that anything's possible. Once I found out about this, I thought about the Elric brothers again. Chances are they're looking for this stone to try to bring their bodies back as whole. When I came up to this conclusion, I silently prayed that they succeed in finding a way to get their bodies back.

I heard a man yell from the streets below, I sat up and poked my head over the edge of the rooftop to see the food vendor yell at Alphonse for breaking his radio placed up above the shelf ahead of him. Edward apologized to the vendor saying that they'll fix it while he doubted them.

I watched as Alphonse bent down and started to draw a transmutation circle around the broken radio and perform alchemy on it. After I was told about Alphonse's body from the Colonel, I was very curious to know how he's 'inside' the suit of armor without really being 'inside' it at all, or how Edward was able to successfully bond his soul to the armor at such a young age. It bothered me that I couldn't just walk down the street and so happily say 'Oh hey! You're the Fullmetal Alchemist! And you're his younger brother, right? That's so cool! Hey, how about exchanging alchemy research I'll tell you mine if you tell me how you're in that suit of armor…?'…

Yeah, that'd work _juuust fine_…

Also after watching the two of them for the last few years, I've come to learn that Edward's quite hotheaded and gets into this sort of mini-(no pun intended)rage attack on someone whenever that person makes a reference to his height. Don't get me wrong, it is funny at times, but sometimes I just can't help but to let out a sigh to this predictable stages.

Step one: Introduction.

Step two: Misassumption of height due to younger brother's size.

Step three: Edward's rage-out.

Step four: Acts like nothing even happened and continues on his way.

And speaking of, Edward just done all step one thru four in just a matter of seconds after when the townsmen of Reole started to gather around his younger brother in a suit of armor rather than him. Perhaps the Fuhrer should have called Edward a different name other than 'Fullmetal', it seems though that everyone gets the two brothers mixed up.

Not that I could think of another name at the moment.

After Ed's little 'freak-out' there, the townspeople started to tell them about the Father, Cornello, saying that he came here and helped the town of Reole by teaching them the Religion of Litoism, granting them immortal life to those who are grateful, bringing the dead back to life, all while performing these 'miracles'. After hearing about this, I started to get the feeling that this Cornello guy's miracles are really just alchemy. And I think that the Elrics did too after hearing that.

It wasn't too long that the townspeople of Reole invited them to see for themselves of Father Cornello's daily miracle performance. I kept myself hidden up on top of a building across from the large courtyard that lead to the church with a pair of binoculars at hand, finally in some shade to escape the sun. After finding the Elric brothers near the rear of the crowd that gathered around the staircase of the church, I started to inspect this so-called Father. He was a rather pudgy bald man with a walking cane, dressed in black robes showing that he was indeed a Father of the church.

I watched him perform a few of his 'miracles' to the people below, seeing them all cheer to each of his makings. From my point of view as an alchemist, it was obvious that it was all alchemy, but there was some strange twists in his transmutations. From here on out I furthered my inspection on the Father. His transmutations were irregular, organic objects to inorganic objects, creating something from nothing. I couldn't help but to think that this man had a Philosopher's Stone in his possession…

And that's when it hit me. The moment he raised his left hand and placed it on his chest, I noticed something tiny on his middle finger, a ring of some sort. When I adjusted my binoculars even further to that area, my suspicions were correct. Chances are this man has a Philosopher's Stone, and chances are the brothers caught on in this as well.

A lurking feeling came to my stomach. They're going to confront this Cornello-guy about the Philosopher's Stone… Which means that Ed's gonna get into some trouble…

I turned my eyes away from the binoculars back to the Elric brothers below and saw them step away from the large group of cheering people. I lowered my binoculars and put my back up against the wall behind me. This newfound information could be very crucial and I would report it back in to S.A.F.A.. Word of a Philosopher's Stone in this area should urge Bradley to step up and take action on this before this situation gets _way_ too far out of hand.

I _would_ though, mind you if I wasn't following the Elric brothers.

There's a reason why I can't report this in. The main reason is because of _them_. It would arouse far too much suspicion of a military squadron to appear so suddenly in this place and start demanding that the Father must give up the Philosopher's Stone when Ed and Al hasn't even confronted him yet. The people will have too many questions about this.

So it's settled then, I must let Ed take care of this situation, with a little help on my part on the end if needed.

After when the courtyard cleared after Cornello's miracles, the Elrics moved on in the church. It took me a while to get into the building without being seen by the townspeople and the surprisingly amount of guards in and around the church, but when I did, I came across to find that Ed and Al had met a church girl who agreed to introduce them to Cornello.

The girl lead Ed and Al into a large chamber deep within the church with the guidance of some of the priests nearby. I was able to sneak into the room through nearby passageways by gaining access by using alchemy and restored the walls to their original state. I then carefully climbed up into the darkness of the large room before watching as Ed and Al entered the room.

I watched as the door behind them closed shut before the man who lead them all inside pulled a gun out and pointed it towards Alphonse while Edwards was restrained by a pair of priests armed with staffs. The man then explained that Ed and Al were here to damage the reputation of Father Cornello and that they were 'evil' before going off on how it's 'God's will'.

It wasn't long before Edward shook the guards off him and tossed them down towards the ground while Alphonse jumped forward and cracked the priest's face in with his fist. Once all of the guards were taken care of, a voice called out to them, in which I recognized as Cornello's from the radio broadcast.

He stepped out from the shadows and greeted Ed and Al and apologized for his followers behavior which was when Edwards countered by asking him a few questions, in regards of using alchemy from Philosopher's Stone. Of course, Cornello played dumb and denied it, continuing to say that they're miracles from Leto – even when he transmuted a small statue in his hand. The girl was obviously enthralled by this miracle by the way she put her hands up to her chest before Edward continued to explain why he can use alchemy while ignoring the Laws of Equivalent Exchange. When he threatened to beat him down for the stone, Cornello commanded the girl to pick up the gun the priest dropped and 'shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist'.

From the look on the girl's face, she clearly didn't want to do it, but Cornello kept pestering her by saying he's the voice of God and it's God's will or going on about who help her and stuff like that. After a moment of listening to his words, the girl then pointed the gun towards Alphonse, causing me to sigh.

From the time that I was following them, I found that almost everybody seemed to mistake Alphonse as the Fullmetal Alchemist because of, er, well, the armor, rather than Ed's automail prosthetic limbs. And every time that happened, Ed starts to freak out similar to the steps whenever someone calls him 'short'.

And just like that, Edward started to freak out steps again and, once again, shouted that he's the famed alchemist, not Al. After that short moment of straightening the facts, the girl then pointed the gun towards Edward. Even though he tried to reason with her, she denied him and said that Cornello's miracles are true.

Suddenly a roar from some beast cried out, causing the girl to fire the gun, but aimed it at Alphonse's head, knocking his helmet off while he fell backwards. She started to scream at her mistake while Cornello praised her until Alphonse stood up, making the girl grow terrified once Al showed her his empty body. Cornello then called out to her, telling her that they're indeed evil and must be eliminated. As he stepped backwards, he reached out towards a switch on the wall and pulled it down.

I started to hear chains rustle against each other below me as a gate opened up. I turned my eyes down towards the ground far below me to see a beast step out from the shadows – a chimera crossed with a lion, bird and a lizard. My eyes narrowed at this sight. The S.A.F.A. Force has dealt with a few stray and strange chimeras around the country and old abandoned laboratories, but this was the first time I've seen one large like this. I started to ready myself with my thin wires that was wrapped around my left forearm as the beast started to prowl closer to Ed and Al.

Edward, of course, took to like it was no big deal and stepped forward, making himself a weapon of his own, a long spear. As the beast started to slash one of its large claws at him, I quickly spun one of my wires around its tail and jerked it back, distracting it from making a lethal blow on him, instead, slashing Ed's spear head off and scratched his automail leg. After retracting the wire quickly, Ed kicked the chimera away and the chimera cam charging back at him and started to gnaw his right arm, ineffective because of his steel arm.

After kicking it away, this time snapping its head back and killed it, Cornello finally understood why he has prosthetics and why Al was in a suit of armor and called him out on it. The two sides started to bicker at each other, Cornello tried to get in the girl's head saying stuff about how they 'defied God' by trying to being somebody dead back to life and all that crap while Ed and Al told him to hand over the Philosopher's Stone. Cornello ignored it and held up his walking cane before transmuting the wooden staff into a steel rotary machine gun.

I watched as Ed quickly transmuted a wall in between him and Cornello, relieved that he was able to do that in such short notice. I then turned my attention to Alphonse as he grabbed the girl in his arm before Cornello started to shoot at them, since Al's armor was steel, the bullets didn't penetrate through but rather bounced off or ricocheted off – a few of the bullets ricocheted over towards me, which I evaded by ducking back around the corner of the pillar I hid behind. Edward then transmuted a way out for them to escape through, prompting Cornello to pursue after them.

I heard them make a loud ruckus outside in the corridors while Cornello shouted for more men to stop them. I then quickly made my way out of the large room opposite from the direction Ed and Al ran off to towards the main church hall and hid in the rafters. After a while of the priests running around in the chaos, I watched Ed come running through the room and stopped before he noticed the broadcasting room before stepping inside. It wasn't very long after when Cornello came dashing on by.

I had to wait a little while up in the rafters of the room before I heard the speakers screeched on suddenly, it then came to my attention that I was hiding next to a speaker, which left an upsetting ring in my ear before I started to hear Ed and Cornello chatting to each other. A smirk then grew on my face once I realized what the Elrics were doing as Cornello blindly started to confess all of the scheming deeds he had plan for the town of Reole, unaware that his words were being spread all along the city. I want to see the looks on some of the townspeople's face when he started to use words like building his own army, legion of holy warriors, and unleash it upon the world while using his Philosopher's Stone.

After hearing the fake priest laugh, I started to hear Edward laugh amongst him, causing Cornello to grow silent. A moment of silence went by, in which I assumed that Ed revealed that Cornello was being over heard by the whole town, Cornello was dumbfounded and tried to make up an excuse. I then started to hear them fighting before I started to feel a tremble growing quickly. I turned my head towards the doorway where the broadcasting was taking place before seeing Ed being attacked by a macho-version of Cornello, his right arm was alchemifyed – most likely from a rebound. Ed dodged a fist coming straight down at him, causing him to dash towards the rear of the room towards a statue, whom I assume was a statue of Leto, and transmuted one of its hands towards into a fist before unleashing it on Cornello.

When the dust cleared, I turned back and saw that Cornello somehow reverted back to his original state as he lied on the floor in pain. Edward stepped up to him and demanded him to give him the Philosopher's Stone, but before anyone could move, the tiny red stone from Cornello's ring fell off and shattered into dust after hitting the ground. Edward was stunned by this before he came to a realization that it was not a Philosopher's Stone, but a fake. He then shouted at Cornello to scram in which he did so as he scurried away like a helpless little animal deeper in the safety of his church.

I let out a sigh as I turned away and started to creep my way out of the church to see Ed meet up with Al outside of the church under a sunset orange sky. Before long, that same girl who accidently shot Al's helmet off was pointing the same gun towards them, demanding for them to hand over the Philosopher's Stone, in which Ed said it was a fake and it was destroyed. She accused them of lying, but Ed shouted at her before he stormed off with Al not too far behind him.

After when I heard that the pair of brothers were going to head back to East City empty handed and back to square one on finding the Philosopher's Stone I took my rest and waited for them to appear at the train station not too long after.

What a day…

Maybe I should take a quick shower…

* * *

**Reviews will be most appreciative :)**


	3. Chapter 2 - Red's new assignment

**_Hiya! Doibz here. Wow, I actually never thought I'd get so many views. I just feel so gitty and bubbly now! :D_**

**_So yeah, it's going a little slow, I know but trust me, it'll speed up... in time. I've been busy writing ahead while I'm getting packed up to go back to school here at the end of summer, so the next update is currently in question._**

**_But in the mean time, I've been keeping myself busy doing some profile pictures of all of my OCs, and I have to say, I'm absolutely in _love _with them all - especially Fev, and the twins, they're just so frickin' adorable! I think I'll be making a deviantart account and uploading them onto my account, though it'll be a while 'till I do that, I think._**

**_So any ways, enjoy the story! Just a bit of a heads up, there is some more translations, a little violence, and maybe a few coarse languages - maybe, I dunno, I don't remember it's been a while since I wrote this chapter, but I'm just warning you in case there is._**

**_~Doibz_**

* * *

_I remember one time in East City nearly two years ago when I was watching over Ed and Al again as I was casually dressed in my regular clothing instead of my uniform. Instead of leaving my hair red or changing it back to my natural color of violet, I instead changed it so I looked like a blonde traveler. The Elrics were seated at a café that they were fond of going to whenever they came to East City not too far away from where I was at a different one down the street. As I was reading the newspaper and drinking my cup of coffee the waiter brought me while watching the two, I felt a sudden tug at the chair I was sitting on while I felt my weight being shifted back._

_I let out a little squeal before I forced my weight forward onto all four legs before hearing a familiar chuckle behind me. I took a quick glance towards the brothers to see that only Edward has his head turned towards my direction before he turned away back to his coffee, uninterested about my squeal I've made._

_I spun my head around to see Ramon standing there in casual clothing with a smirk on his face. I furrowed my brows at him. "You jerk! You scared me half to death!" I said before I punched his chest enough to making him whimper in pain before he started to chuckle once more._

_"You know, people usually say, 'Oh I missed you!' or 'What a surprise to see you here!' or something like that after not seeing each other for a few weeks." He said changing his voice's tone to the suggestions even though his Aerugoian accent didn't help emphasising it seriously. I glared at him blankly._

_"…What a surprise to see you here!" I finally replied mockingly, earning myself another laugh from him as he seated himself across from me. I then straightened myself up. "So what's the deal? How come you're here all of a sudden?"_

_"I heard you're in the area and I thought I'd stop and say hi before I missed you heading out. So hi." He smiled happily._

_I sighed inwardly at his behavior as I crossed my arms over my chest. I noticed after a while of being partnered up with him that he has a knack of making you wait to hear the news he has to offer, long enough for you to get angry at him and just want to punch him in the face or something like that for not spitting it out. It reminded me of a little kid trying to tell a big surprise to their parents but just wanted to be a smart-ass about it. "Is that _really_ all you have to say? After coming out here to see me? Aren't you a little busy for that?"_

_He smirked at that while a waiter stepped up and asked him for something to drink in which he surprisingly declined politely. "No, it's nothing like that, really. If it were up to me, I'd sit here and chat with you all day…" He began. "But I am here on duty, you know. You've got a new assignment with me."_

_I blinked at this statement as I unfolded my arms and propped them up on the table. "Go on."_

_"There's been word of some _strange_ and mysterious deaths here in East City and back in Central. Bradley wants us to find out what's going on and who's responsible for them."_

_I took immediate interest in the word strange. "Define 'strange'."_

_"I mean all of the deaths so far that are accounted for are all military, _State Alchemist_, actually."_

_The moment he said that, more questions started to pop to the top of my head. "They're _all_ State Alchemists? Why?"_

_"Beats me. The others are drawing up a blank in this, too." He said before he thumbed behind him. "But I'd keep my eye out on those two a little bit harder for the time being, if you know what I mean…" He said making me advert my eyes over his shoulder to see Ed and Al get up from the table they sat at and start to leave down the street opposite to where me and Ramon were. I turned back to Ramon as he continued. "But not now. We gotta go and find this guy."_

_"All right, but I need to report in what I have to the Colonel before we do that."_

_"Colonel-Who?" He questioned._

_"Colonel Roy Mustang, he's stationed out here in East City Headquarters. He and I are watching over the Elrics for the time being. And every now and then when I get the chance to, I report in to him how they're doing."_

_"All right. Just hurry it up. We've got work to do." He said standing up, making me snort as I did the same._

_"Since when are you so eager to work all of a sudden? I'd expect you to lounge around eating this café's entire donut selection."_

_"Really? Do they actually have powdered donuts here?"_

_I rolled my eyes and turned to him. "You should lay back on the donuts, sweetie. I shouldn't be saying this since I have a sweet tooth myself, but I don't want my hubby to be all so _chubby_." I teased, earning myself a glare from him while I started to reach for my wallet._

_He started to laugh mockingly as a smirk came up to my face. "Oh, you…!" He exaggerated in the same tone I made for him before his face turned serious. "But this here," He patted his stomach. "'s all muscle. No fat here."_

_I burst out into laughter at his comment as the two of us started to head out towards the nearest phone booth in the area. After a short while of teasing and chatting, we came to a corner booth at the end of the street. I stepped inside it and turned to the phone._

_"Do you know his number?"_

_"Yes I do, you sarcastic jerk." I said rolling my eyes as I started to dial the number that was encrypted into my mind._

_"You think he's there?"_

_"He better be or else-"_

_"Mustang's office…" A familiar voice answered, who I recognized as Jean Havoc._

_I turned my head towards the phone. "Yes, hi, is Roy in the office today?" I asked in a playful voice._

_"… Yeah he's here." He took the phone away from his ear and covered up the phone with his hand, but I could still hear him on the other end. "Hey, chief, there's some girl on the phone for you."_

_"What's her name?" I heard Mustang ask in the background, sounding uninterested in speaking with me at the moment._

_"Hold on." Havoc said turning his head back to the phone. "May I ask who's speaking?"_

Wonderful phone skills, Lieutenant_, I thought to myself. "Yes, my name is Rhylynn Elias-Delves."_

_"'Kay, hold on one sec…"_

_"… Rhylynn Elias-Delves?" Ramon repeated slowly making me turn my head back towards him. "R-E-D, as in 'Red'. Clever."_

_"Isn't it?" I smirked snootily covering my end of the phone with my hand before turning my head to the side. "He better figure it out or else the next time I see him I'll slap him so hard-"_

_"This is Mustang." His voice broke out on the phone causing me to jump._

_A smirk grew on my face. "Hi, Roy!" I greeted in a familiar tone he should know that's me._

_There was a pause on the other end of the line, which made me have the urge to march up to his office just to give him a huge slap or two across the face, then suddenly. "… Hello Rhy! I almost didn't recognize you. How are you? Should you really be calling me at work?"_

_I sighed of relief inwardly. "Sorry, Roy… Should I call back later? Or should we meet up later?"_

_"No, now's alright. I was about to take a break anyways." Mustang said as I heard a tap on the other end of the line, what I'm guessing was a pen hitting the desk. "And besides… I was expecting to hear from you sooner or later."_

_I smiled at this. "Really? Well that's good timing of me I guess."_

_"Weren't you doing some baby-sitting for that old man you worked for?"_

_This is usually how we have to communicate with each other when it's in regards to the Elric brothers. The role I was playing in this act was a girl Mustang met not too long ago who works as a part-time babysitter, which really is _kinda_ what my job is. Part-time babysitter, full-time assassin. Anyways, by doing this and playing along, we decode each other's sentences to understand our real conversation in case if Mustang's line was bugged. This has been going on quite some time, but every now and then I'd change my fake name or the tone of my voice._

_"Yeah, was now."_

_"What do you mean?" He questioned._

_I turned around and put my back up against the glass behind me. "Well, my family from Central called me not too long ago and wants me back for an emergency family crisis or something like that for a little while. It's kinda serious…" I paused. "Now 'cause of this, I can't keep an eye out on the brats as well as I can."_

_"Oh? And how are those two boys you told me earlier?"_

_"They're fine most of the time. The older one seems to like getting into trouble… he just likes to stick his nose in other people's business for some reason and he drags his younger brother with him, poor _little_ guy. Sometimes I had to step up just for them not to get hurt."_

_In other words, they're fine and dandy, staying out of trouble with the military anyways…_

_"Well hopefully they won't get into _too_ much trouble while you're gone."_

_"Me too. You know, it's actually kinda fun watching over them. I learned a lot from both of them. Hope I get to watch over them again soon."_

_"I'm sure you would. You've been doing a great job."_

_My cheeks pinked up at his compliment. "Aw, thanks, Roy! You really think so?"_

_"I'm sure you will."_

_"Well, I think I should go now. I'll get a hold of you when I'm back in East City again… Maybe we could meet up?"_

_"Sure! And I'll take you out for lunch somewhere special."_

_I let out a playful giggle. "Oh, Roy! Bye!"_

_"Bye-bye!" Mustang said before he hung up the phone._

_I started to smile away as I hung up the phone. When I turned around back to Ramon, I saw him standing there looking at me with an disturbed face as his cheeks were pink. "What?" I finally asked._

_"…What the hell was that all about… _Rhylynn?_" He said adding emphasis on my fake name._

_"What? I was just playing the part! So was he." I then let out an exaggerated gasp while I stepped out of the phone booth. "Don't tell me my little Ramon's jealous, are you?" I teased him, causing him to blush harder._

_"I am not!" He said turning his head away from me as I started to laugh hysterically._

_I then stepped over to him and reached out and pinched his red cheek. "Daww, don't feel bad, sweetie! You'll always be my number one before him." I paused as a smirk came up to my face. "But _I am_ going out to lunch the next time I'm in town."_

_Ramon spun his head over to me with wide eyes. "You do know he's like, what, _twice_ your age, right?"_

* * *

_The moment I laid my eyes on the corpse sprawled out on the floor before me, I felt my stomach turn. There lying there on the floor was a middle aged man, dressed in a military uniform as his State Alchemist pocket watch fell out of his pocket beside him getting soaked and rusted in his own blood. It took me a moment to register the dead man's face, but I remember seeing him in the Central cafeteria on a few occasions. I think he once said he had a wife and child in the city, too._

_It was late at night and Ramon and I were dressed in our S.A.F.A. uniforms. We headed into a small outpost East from Central after when we heard of another mysterious death that Mars found out about just recently._

_Ramon let out a sigh. "This guy here makes victim number four…" He said as he stepped up to the body. He then turned the man's head over causing more blood to gush out from his head, making him let out a sigh of disgust as he put his head back down. "An explosion from his head by the looks of it. Poor bastard's brains were blown up from the inside."_

_"That's just sick…" I said as I stepped beside him inspecting the wound on the dead man's head, noticing some strange markings around the wound. "This must be the work of someone using alchemy."_

_"All of the State Alchemists that were killed recently have shared this guy's end."_

_"So this guy we're looking for is an alchemist whose targeting State Alchemists only… I shouldn't be away from the Elrics too long after this… Fullmetal could be next on his little hit-list he's got going on…" I turned my head over to him. "And you said that there's no description of the guy?"_

_"Not yet. For how messy he is in killing these guys, he don't seem to leave a trace. Nobody sees him. Nobody hears him. Nothing. He's like a ghost."_

_I stood up and started to look around the room. "Ghosts don't exist, Ramon. If they did, we'd be haunted by every single person we've whacked since we've started working for S.A.F.A.." I began with a sigh. "He's a living person, just like us… 'cept this guy has some sort of grudge with the military or something."_

_"Yeah." Ramon agreed with me as he stood up. "Until we can have a confirmed description on this guy while seeing him in the position, we can't find him like this. We have almost nothing to work on."_

_I let out a sigh. "What a bummer… Should we point the military to this guy, too?"_

_"You know the drill."_

* * *

I stepped off the train once it came to a stop at East City station and let out a yawn. Dressed in casual clothing and dyed my hair brown, I turned my head over to my left to see Ed and Al heading out of the train station up the stairs. Those two sure seem to move fast whenever they feel like it. I had a feeling that they were going to see Mustang and report in about what happened in Reole.

By the time I got back to the East City Command Center, I decided to go report my side of the story in to Mustang as well once the Elrics were done with him. While I waited, I decided to head back to the East City S.A.F.A. room and check up on things there. I climbed up through the window and was surprisingly greeted by the twins in the room, who were sitting at the table having lunch.

A smirk came to my face as I stepped over to the table. "Hey, guys, miss me?"

"Hey, Red." They both chimed together. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, two months of following the Elrics sure takes it's time." I sighed as I brushed my hand through my brown hair reverting it back into my violet color. "What're guys doing here? Is Fév and Mars here, too?"

"They're out on a mission in the west near Creta's border. They won't be back in Central for a few days." Leo began.

"But enough of that, we got some news you might want to hear about." Birdy said standing up while taking his empty lunch away.

"What's up?"

"Scar's been sighted again in Central last night. He just killed Brigadier General Basque Grand." My eyes widen.

"You're kidding…" I let out a troubled sigh. "Well, this is great."

About a year has gone by since the first sightings of Scar's appearance thanks to the twins from a photograph they provided of the guy as he killed another State Alchemist, it's actually an awesome, yet really gruesome picture. Apparently we don't have a name to this man other than the nickname the military gave him of 'Scar', from the large scar that's on his forehead. Other than the large scar on his head, he's described to be fairly tall and muscular, and he's usually seen wearing a yellow jacket and dark sunglasses, which raises our suspicions on him as S.A.F.A. members. Lot of people wear sunglasses when they have something to hide.

"All right then, where was the last sighting of Scar? Maybe we'll be able to leave a cookie trail to him for the military."

"Hold on a sec…" Leo said standing up and headed over to the desk behind him, pulling a map of Central City from the bundles of other maps. He came back and spread it atop the table top as we all gathered around it. He pointed his finger on the map. "This here is where Grand's body was found, along with what looked like his alchemy aftermath."

"Since then, we've got word of sightings of Scar, here, at the Grand Central Station sometime this morning." Birdy added as he pointed to the said place across the city. "We haven't heard if he left the city or anything else about it, but if he did, he could be somewhere around here in East City. He's obviously in hiding. Which is why we're here."

I let out a sigh as I crossed my arms over my chest. Obviously this guy's not stupid to get caught by the military to keep loose for over two years. He's clever. The only way we can possibly find him is to get one of us from S.A.F.A. to help the military – secretively, of course.

An idea struck me.

"This guy…" I began, getting the attention of the twins on me. "Goes after State Alchemist – and whoever else gets in his way, right?"

The twins had the look of suspicion on their faces. "…Yeah." They both said.

"My clients are _both_ State Alchemists… what if we used one of them as the _cheese?_"

"…You mean as _bait_ to lure Scar out?" Leo pieced it together.

Birdy snorted out as he rolled his eyes from me. "You're going to use them so then we'd be able to take him out right then and there? You're willing to risk their _lives_ just to whack this guy?"

"Why not?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"You're insane…"

"No, my sanity's just different than yours."

"Well, Commander, what's it gonna be?" Leo asked as he turned his head over to his brother as he watched him think about it.

Birdy let out a sigh after a moment's thought. "You know, Feb's gonna be all against it."

I jumped up to him with a huge excited smile on my face, giving him a hug along the way. "Thanks Birdy-Bird! I knew you would change your mind!"

"Fuck it, let's get this thing over with…" Birdy said in defeat. "You look like you know what you're doing, _you_ take charge in this."

"So then _we_ don't get chewed out by Fév." Leo added.

I literally skipped, yes skipped, out to my locker and grabbed my blue military uniform and skipped to the changing room. In minutes I was gone and heading towards Mustang's office, thinking that he should be done with Ed and Al by now. By the time I've arrived to his office, I found out that he was out, escorting Ed and Al to meet an alchemist named Shou Tucker, the Sewing Life Alchemist and is also a State Alchemist.

I remember hearing of Tucker before on a couple occasions. He is said to have received his certification nearly two years ago by making a chimera who could understand and speak our country's language, but rumor said that the chimera starved itself and died. It was Mars who done his State Alchemist Inspection, and she came back after her inspection, flagging him. In our duty, a flagged State Alchemist means that he should be kept an eye on when it come to his research, which in Tucker's case, bioalchemy is his specialty. I also remember her saying something like, 'there's something about that guy that doesn't seem right to me…', whatever that means…

"Yeah, the Colonel shouldn't be too long," Havoc said leaning back in his chair with his trademark look of the cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "If anything, he should be back pretty soon."

There in Mustang's office was Havoc, Falman, Breda and Fuery, Mustang's subordinates. Mustang and Hawkeye left with Ed and Al to meet with Tucker. I've met the four a while back ago when Mustang was, apparently, away a few times. I've introduced the four that I was Lieutenant Colonel Raelisa Sparrow, a friend of Mustang's under the Fuhrer's squadron. At first they were sceptical and suspicious of me, but they eventually gotten used to seeing me whenever Mustang wasn't around, which I lost patience and left to go out to find Mustang myself.

In the end I usually have to call him or stop him in the streets.

The door opened up behind me. "Hey, Havoc, go pick the Elrics from Tucker's at the end of the day… Oh, and tell him his assessment day's coming soon." I heard Mustang's voice call out.

"Sure, chief."

I turned around over to see Mustang looking at me with wide eyes, probably looking at my violet hair. Everybody does this with me all the time that it's no surprise to me anymore. I smirked at this and I raised my arms in the air. "Roy! Holy hell, you're still alive! I thought you've gone and died on me, you bastard!" I teased him making his eyes widen once he recognized my voice.

"Hey… I didn't expect you to be here…" He questioned with a small smile on his face.

"Surprise visit, order by the Fuhrer. Here to deal business with ya." I smirked at him.

Mustang looked at me with a raised eyebrow before he turned away with a smile on his face. "All right. Come into my office." He said waiving me towards the door. I followed him inside and closed the door behind me while he went to his desk. "So, what's this 'surprise visit' ordered from the Fuhrer?" He asked me.

"Nothing. I lied. I just wanted to report to you what the Elric Brothers were up to. What did they tell you?"

"Nothing too much, other than a fake priest was manipulating the townspeople of Reole by using alchemy with a fake Philosopher's Stone and portraying his transmutations as 'miracles'."

"Yeah, it's sad, really… another false lead for the brothers on the Stone…" I said as I shook my head. "I'm assuming that some Eastern Forces are going to head over there and help the townspeople out, right?"

"We're already getting a list of soldiers to send out there in case if riots break out over the whole ordeal." Mustang said as he leant back in his chair. "Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Weelll just one more, actually…" I said smugly. "I'm sure you've heard of someone by the name of 'Scar', have you?"

I watched as Mustang's eyes widen to the word. "'Scar'? … Just some stories here and there…"

"He's a suspicious man whose been killing off State Alchemists countrywide. The name 'Scar' is given due to the large scar on his forehead. I got word from my team saying that he's been spotted this morning at the train station in Central."

Mustang's widen eyes turned frustrated as he adverted his eyes to the walls of his office. "Great. So he left the city…"

"_Maybe_. Maybe _not_…" I said as I sat down on the arm of the couch. "I was wondering that maybe you'd like to _volunteer_ for something if Scar's here in East City…"

"… What kind of _volunteering_…?" He questioned as he started to inspect me closely.

I raised my hands up. "Picture this." I began waiving my hands up like my plan was to unveil itself out in the open without me saying a single word. "Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and Hero of the Ishvalan Civil War, single-handedly lured out the infamous State Alchemist Murderer Scar, and earned himself the title as 'Hero and Savior of the State Alchemists'-"

"I'm _not_ going to use myself as bait to lure this Scar out, if that's what you're asking. That's just suicide." Mustang interrupted me.

I puffed my cheeks out at him as my eyes darted over to him, noticing the face he made at me. "Fine. I'll just get Edward to do it _for_ _me_ then." Mustang narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh come on! I've got two buddies of mine to help me with this. I can get one of them to snipe out Scar when he's out! I can get out there and distract him with you! Piece of cake!"

"… As Red?"

"No, God no, that's just stupid on my part. As Lieutenant Colonel Raelisa Sparrow." I addressed myself.

Mustang looked at me with wide eyes before he raised an eyebrow to me. "Raelisa?"

I smirked at him. "Yes, that's my real name. What about it?"

"It's a nice name."

"Thank you, usually people _questions_ my name."

Mustang's smirk then turned to a scowl. "But back to the main picture, no. I'm not going to use myself as _bait_ for you to get Scar… And you're not going to use Edward either!"

I crossed my arms and turned away from him. "You're no fun… That lunch date was a _lie_." I said before I stood up and stepped over to his desk and snagged a pen and a piece of paper and I started to write down a number on it. "Tell you what. _This_, here is a private number that no one knows about. It's very important that no one else sees this number." I then placed the pen down and stood up and I pushed the piece of paper towards him. "This is the number to the S.A.F.A. Headquarter for East City when you need to get a hold of me. Call from a outside line, ask for me and I'll be there. Memorize it, burn it and scatter the ashes."

Mustang took the piece of paper and looked at the special number before turning back to me with wide eyes. "You're giving me the number to _S.A.F.A.?_" He questioned me, clearly uneasy about it. "I don't know wither to be grateful or not… Are you sure about this?"

I then smirked at him while I headed over to the door. "Well, how else are you supposed to get a hold of me when you change your mind about Scar?" I snorted. "I sure as hell ain't giving you my home number." Mustang let out a snort.

"Oh, by the way…" I began. "The news about Scar and all, so far that's the Investigations business and hasn't been released to all of the State Military, so it's kinda a hush-hush thing that you should pretend not to know _too_ _much_ about it. Call me!" I explained as I left his office giving him a waive.

After saying my goodbyes to the rest of the gang out in the large room, I headed back to the S.A.F.A. Headquarter to find the twins standing there changed into their casual wear. "Well?" Leo asked me as he put his jacket on.

I shrugged my shoulders as I stepped over towards the counter at the other side of the room. "I think Mustang will be in on this." I said getting myself a coffee. "That phone will ring any minute now…" I said turning my head over towards the phone in the corner of the room.

There was a few moments of silence before Birdy turned to me with a doubtful look on his face. "Did he call yet?"

"Oh, cállate! (shut up!)" I said throwing a sugar cube towards him.

Eventually after about a half hour, the phone _did_ ring and it was _indeed_ Mustang who called from a pay phone outside of the Command Center. He then agreed take part in my plan to take Scar out of commission.

I still remember the words Mustang spoke to me about this like it was just moments ago…

_"If I die because of this, it's gonna be on your guilty conscious."_

I laughed at this and I assured him that he's not going to die, which _is_ _true_. If things _do_ get to out of whack or if people get in the way, we'll call off the mission entirely. He was uneasy about it in the beginning, but he eventually put his trust in my hands.

The next day was pouring down heavily and it continued to rain again the next. I like the rain. The sound of it is soothing, the feeling is nice and cool, and the smell of it is clean and pure. I love it so much. The only thing I could say that I don't like about the rain is the effect on you. Yes, it makes you wet, I have no problem about that, it's like taking a shower with your clothes on. I just don't like the chances of getting too wet that'll end up getting you sick. It especially suck when it rains and you catch a cold right in the middle of a mission…

Or worse when your enemy says 'guzuntight' before bombarding you with bullets.

But anyways, I left Ed and Al to go back to Tucker's again to study and read books like they did yesterday, but I received some… _disturbing_ news. I heard from Leo that Tucker transmuted his daughter and her dog into a chimera in hoping that he'd keep his State Certification. I also heard that both Tucker and his daughter were killed not too long ago, along with the guards outside of the property, probably from Scar once he found out he was a State Alchemist. When Ed found out about this, he was overwhelmingly upset about it, devastated, really as he and Al went back to the military hotel grief stricken.

I received a phone call early this morning from Mustang about Tucker's and his daughter's death and he invited me to see the crime scene. I arrived at the crime scene in my military uniform and met up with Maes Hughes, as well Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist.

I met Hughes a few times before over the years and he's a very nice man, a little overly-eager to show pictures of his wife and daughter to anybody, really. I can't even count the amount of pictures the guy shoved pictures in my face the first time I went to his house for dinner with his family or whenever I see him in the hallways of Central Headquarters. Since he was close friends with Mustang, Mustang and I confidently told him that I was in S.A.F.A. and told him to be quiet about it. So far, he's been good with it. I'd hate to have to kill a family man…

And Armstrong, well, he's my uncle believe it or not. Yeah. That big guy, like seven-feet-tall-big, is my uncle. And sadly I've been living with him and my other relatives at their estate back in Central for the past few years. He, along with my other relative know that I am apart of S.A.F.A. and some of them encourage me to continue my job while others say differently. You'd say that we are not related in anyways but of course Uncle Alex always proves them wrong. Other than the obvious size difference and the hair and eye color, the only thing that we _do_ share as Armstrongs is the trademark eyelashes – and thank _god_ I don't have that stupid little curl in my hair like every Armstrong has – including my mother. Every now and then I find myself checking to see if I have that curl growing on my head or not…

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Tucker incident…

Okay so, as I was saying, I met with Hughes and Uncle Strips-a-lot here at Tucker's estate to see the corpses and my suspicions were right. Just like the State Alchemists before him, Tucker's brains were blown up from the inside out, even the transmuted body of his daughter-turned-chimera and the two guards outside shared the same fate. And the amount of blood that came out from the two…

Not too long later, Mustang arrived and saw the bodies of Tucker and his daughter before the bodies were taken away by the military for analysis. When that happened, we all headed back to the Headquarters in which Hughes and Uncle Alex explained to him about him, pretty much describing him as I already did for Mustang earlier.

When Hughes said that Scar taken down Brigadier General Grand not too long ago, Mustang was shocked, then Hughes pleaded him to lie low for a while before he said…

"You and Tucker are the only State Alchemists in note of this area, right?"

Mustang and I turned to each other with wide eyes. "Oh no."

"Edward."

I turned around and dashed away down the hallway as fast as I could until I was outside of the Command Center into the streets. Chances are the Elrics aren't very far away, and Scar's looking for them as well. I started to curse myself for not keeping an eye on Ed today when I should have…

For fuck's sake it's my job to watch over him!

I stopped running once I heard a loud explosion coming from a couple blocks away from the east. I turned and hasten my pace once I heard a second and a third. Using the sounds of the explosions as my guide to navigate through the streets and over the rooftops as fast as I could, I finally found the brothers.

Al's armor was missing his lower right side while Ed's automail arm was destroyed by none other than Scar himself. Edward was just lying there on the ground while Scar stepped up to him. Just as he was about to touch him with his right hand, a gunshot fired up in the air. I spun my head around and saw Mustang along with his men gathered around pointing guns towards Scar. I smiled of relief as I caught my breath leaning up against a nearby lamppost.

Good, Ed's not going to die just yet…

Something caught my eye from the top of the building nearby. There I saw two blonde wads of hair atop of the building, one of them had a rifle aimed at Scar. A smirk came up to my face until I came to a realization…

It's raining…

Mustang can't defend himself…

Which is a big no-no. A _really_ big no-no.

Then Mustang decided to do something stupid. He handed his gun off to his Lieutenant and started to taunt Scar into challenging him once Scar found out he was the Flame Alchemist. He pulled on his ignition gloves, the prime source where he can use his flame alchemy, which is useless to use anyways since it's pouring right now. I made the signal to the twins to abort while trying to get Mustang to back down but he was too distracted by Scar. Luckily Hawkeye saw my signal and she was able to trip Mustang just when he snapped his wet fingers while avoiding Scar's attempt to kill him. She then opened fire causing him to dash away.

Lucky, lucky guy…

Just when Scar was about to attack Mustang and the rest of his squad, Uncle Alex came up behind him and tried to attack him, which Scar narrowly avoided. I stepped over to the military men as others tended to Edward while listening to my uncle go off on introducing himself as the Strong Arm Alchemist and recited the phrase 'passed down the Armstrong family for generations' thing… again.

Havoc screamed at him to not to destroy the city, in which he stripped his military jacket off and flexed his overly bulged muscles. I face palmed myself as the military men around me made comments onto why he took his shirt off.

My family is _insane_…

As my uncle started to fight him head on using his alchemy and close combat skills, I decided to join in as well. We both worked together in trying to take Scar down, much to Uncle Alex's request for me to just step down and let him take care of it alone. Just as Alex was forced to step away from Scar, I came around and punched him with my Armstrong might towards the wall before dashing away from Hawkeye's sniping shots aimed at Scar. Unfortunately she was able to just graze him with one bullet that was to knock his dark sunglasses off his face, revealing his blood red eyes.

And it all started to make sense…

In Amestris, there's only once race of people who has red eyes, and those people are called Ishvalans, a religious group who believed that God is their creator and opposes alchemy entirely. Coming from a desert town called Ishval in the East, they were forced out of their holy land, so they called it, after the Ishvalan War of Extermination that started in 1901 before ending seven years later. The odds that this guy was looking for vengeance for what happened in Ishval all those years ago is probably why he is out looking to kill off the State Alchemists he come across.

Just as Mustang told him to surrender, Scar put his hand to the ground and blew up a large surface below him causing everyone around it to back away from the large dust cloud that appeared. I let out a curse once I looked down the hole that lead into the sewer line.

Bastard escaped capture again…

I picked up Uncle Alex's military jacket and handed it back to him while Mustang apologized and thanked us for buying them enough time to work on. I let out a sigh as I turned my head towards Edward who scurried up to his feet and rushed over to Al in the alleyway. Just as people were starting to question Al's body, Al suddenly punched Edward, _twice_, making me flinch at the sight of it as they continued to argue with each other. After a moment's time of fighting with each other, and Al's right arm broke off, they calmed down everyone started to get out of the area.

I turned my head towards the break in the clouds as the sun shone through. I let out a smile before turning to see Mustang step up to me. "Looks like I didn't need to be bait after all. Where's your sniper at anyways?"

I smirked at him before turning my eyes up towards the building to see two wads of blonde hair sticking up over the top of a nearby building packing up. "I think they were going to shoot if it was absolutely necessarily." I began noticing that he was also looking up towards the building as the twins stepped away from our sight. He turned back to me as I continued. "Besides, the conditions wasn't right on _your_ _end_ of the plan, so I called it off anyways. Good thing you've got some reliable people around to help you and the Elrics out."

He smirked at me before he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Thanks a lot, Red." He called me before he stepped away and started to head to his vehicle. "You need a ride back to Headquarters? You look a little drained."

"Yeah, I guess I am." I said noticing how much I am breathing since this whole thing started. "I'll take you up on your offer."

* * *

That night in Mustang's office, Mustang explained to us about the Ishvalan War of Extermination to Edward and Alphonse and everyone he had in the room with him. Edward exploded at Mustang's comment about Scar taking revenge on the military, saying that there's no justification in it because Scar's playing the role as 'the agent of God'.

Whatever the reason, Mustang made the order in the room to kill without asking any questions.

Hughes then turned to Ed and asked him what he's going to do, in which he replied that he needs a new arm in order to fix Al up. Uncle Alex immediately offered to fix him up, but Al simply said no. Ed said that he's the only one who knows how to bond Al's soul inside the armor.

"If Edward can't use alchemy, then he's just…"

"A little brat who swears a lot."

"An arrogant pipsqueak."

"Useless, just useless!"

After Ed's little freak out, people started to see who could protect Ed and Al in the meantime Scar tried to attack them. Instantly Uncle Alex stepped up to the base, giving Edward a bone crushing hug as he started to frickin' cry tears of woe or some crap like that, something that my mother would beat him down for getting all soft about. He gone off about Ed trying to resurrect his dead mother and brotherly love stuff and all that.

Ed tried to say that he didn't need a guard but Hawkeye helped him see that he needed someone to guard him and carry Al back home. Hughes said he got a lot of work waiting for him back in Central, Mustang said he can't leave East Headquarters, Hawkeye said she's too busy babysitting the Colonel, and Breda, Havoc, Fuery and Falman all said that they can't protect them from that kind of danger.

Which left me and Uncle Alex. And Uncle Alex did agree into being their guard for the time being. Mustang then turned to me with a devious smirk on his face.

"I think you should go too, Sparrow." He said.

I flinched at this as my head spun over to him. "_Me?_ Why do I have to go, too?" I questioned loudly.

"Wait, _two_ bodyguards?" Edward piped up. "Isn't that a little extreme or something? I don't need this kind of protection!"

"The more, the merrier." Mustang snorted.

I let out a sigh to his decision. Of course as Red, I have the same jurisdiction as Bradley since I am working undercover for him. But just as Raelisa Sparrow, I'm just a Lieutenant Colonel, just one teeny rank lower than Mustang's. And the order from Bradley was whenever I'm watching Ed and Al was that I work _under_ Mustang's order as a Lieutenant Colonel. And it's not like I can disobey a commanding officer when he tells me something, people will get suspicious and I can't have that.

As everyone cleared out other than myself, Uncle Alex, Hawkeye and Mustang, I turned my head over to Mustang. "Is that _really_ why you want me to go as Colonel Sparrow? Not Red?"

His smirk widen. "I thought you could learn a little bit more of him first hand. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, getting up and personal is great and all on my part, but still though…" I then stopped and sighed while rubbing the back of my head in defeat. "Looks like I've got no choice then, huh?"

Damn it, this kinda sucks…


	4. Chapter 3 - On Our Way To Resembool

_**Hi! Doibz here! Has it been, what, a month since my last upload? Holy-Moly, doesn't feel that long to me. Maybe 'cause I'm finally back in school (yays!) or maybe I haven't had internet in soooo long... And I know I said in the last update that I was planning on making a deviantart account with all my OCs on it, but, um, yeah. I mean, I'm still gonna do that, juuuust as soon as I get a scanner (or maybe have photoshop downloaded on my laptop).**  
_

_**Goodie-goodie, I've finally got a B-Day/X-mas wish list! (In like my entire lifetime that's not a week before).**_

_**Any ways, here's the next instalment for 'Black Widow', and yeah, I'm thinking of having a little flashback-reminiscing thingies at least once in every chapter for, y'know, to get to know about Rae and my other OCs a little bit more. AND I know it's a little slow, but please be patient for the next few chapters for they are going to be taking a while to get to all of the juicy-goodies featured in the Brotherhood storyline.**_

_**What else? Oh yeah, I don't own FMA or any of their characters in any way. If I did, Arakawa and I would be BFFs and I'd have King Bradley go the Gangnam style at Central Headquarters. (LOL!)**_

_**-Doibz**_

* * *

_I remember the time when I was given my nickname of 'Black Widow'. It all started nearly two and a half years ago the whole S.A.F.A. group and I were out on our monthly combined training exercises. Instead of using the training ground in Central City like the regular soldiers use, we have our training sessions outside of Central, maybe ten or so miles away from the city limits to the west. We were free to use them whenever we wanted to otherwise, as long as we don't attract the attention of the locals or the military. Février and I were working on our close combat together, Mars and Ramon were target practising on both the twins – with rubber bullets of course as the twins' goal was to make it to them with little to no injury. Every now and then you'd hear Leo or Birdy cry out in pain or curse in every language they know while Mars and Ramon laughed at them._

_That was the _one_ and _only_ time the two of them gotten along, mind you._

_After working with these people, I came to understand what each person specializes in. Ramon, surprisingly, is a firearm and explosive expert, Mars specializes in gadgets and technology alike, Leo and Birdy specializes in minor alchemy, tracking, and close combat, while Février specializes in parkour, sneaking, criminal profiling, and hand-to-hand combat._

_I tossed Février over my shoulder and slammed him down on the ground before I then reached over and grabbed his left arm and twisted it around behind him, causing him to whimper out in pain. "Ow, ow, ow! Tío! Tío! (Uncle! Uncle!)" He cried out in Aerugoian, holding his breath as if to make the pain stop._

_I heard Mars and the twins laughter nearby, causing me to turn my heads to see them step over to Février and I. "You know, not everybody can make him cry like a little baby like you can."_

_"Shut up! Please, Red, my arm…" I heard Fév wheeze out._

_"Oops. Sorry about that, Fév." I smirked while getting off of his back and released his arm. He let out a huff of relief before sitting up._

_I turned my head over to the group and I noticed something quaint. "Hey…" I began. "How come everybody but me and Fév don't have any hoods on our uniforms?"_

_"So, you've caught up on that, huh?" I turned my head over to see Ramon step over with his black case acting as a elbow rest._

_"That's because you're still a rookie… Well, except me." Fév spoke up as he crossed his legs together._

_"What'd you mean 'still a rookie'? I've done almost fifty missions since I've joined S.A.F.A. What's it going to take until you guys stop treating me like the underdog here?" I questioned as I put my hands on my hips, looking down at him as if I were challenging him._

_"Hey, hey, don't get all defensive there, Red. It's a good thing actually." He continued as I raised an eyebrow in question. "Whenever somebody in S.A.F.A. completes successful fifty missions, he or she gets a nickname based on their skills and personality, kinda like how State Alchemists are given a second name based on their skills. We all have one. When we do get a name we lose our hoods to our uniforms."_

_"Wait, you have a hood."_

_"I kept mine 'cause I like hoods." Fév crossed his arms with a hint of a pout in his voice. "Anyways, yeah, we all have another name. Février: The Silent Stalker. Mars: The Perilous Charlatan. Ramon: The Eagle-Eye. And lastly, Leo and Oiseau: The Allusive Brutes."_

_It took me a moment to register each of their nicknames. At first, it didn't really make sense, but once I thought about it for a moment, it made perfect sense. It matched each of the S.A.F.A. members very well, and quite cleverly, too. Février's named for the stalking specialty, Mars is rather creative with her gadgets that she uses on her missions, Leo and Birdy confuses the shit out of people, and Ramon's gunmanship is out of this world._

_I smirked at this. "That's neat. What's mine name gonna be?" I asked curiously._

_Everybody turned their heads to each other as they all had the same expression on their faces. After a moment of silence, Mars turned her head back to me. "Not sure. You didn't complete fifty missions yet."_

_My smirk vanished at her remark. "What? You can't be serious."_

_"You'll be named when the time comes. C'mon, everybody pack up and head back to Central." Fév announced, causing everyone but myself and Ramon to go off and gather their supplies._

_I let out a huff. "Well that stinks…" I pouted with my arms crossed over my chest._

_Ramon couldn't help but to laugh at my stubbornness, much to my displeasure. He stepped up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't feel too bad. I think you only got a few more missions to complete…" He then leant over and whispered in my ear. "But if you want in the meantime, I can call you… my _RedQueen_." He said before he let go of my shoulder and started to head off._

_My cheeks grew hot as my brows furrowed. I spun around to him. "Shut up with your stupid puns!" I called out to him, earning myself a roar of laughter from him._

* * *

_After maybe a month or so since then and I was on my way to the S.A.F.A. room when I was suddenly stopped by Mars, dressed in her blue military uniform, in the middle of the Central Command Center grounds. She looked like she was in a panic._

_"Where's the fire at, Mars?" I called out to her, causing her to rush over to me._

_"Yeah, well, we're going to be the ones who's gonna get _fire_-ed." She said making me raise an eyebrow to her lame-ass joke. She's really not the type of person who can make a verbal joke. Sure, there's the occasional slip out that's _actually _funny, especially when it mentions one of the guys._

_Like how she put out a short-joke about Février in the guise of giving all of us a tech-demo on a new product she gave to us. Ramon and I got it quickly and started to laugh, it took the twins a minute before they understood it, but Février just looked at us with this 'What's so fucking funny?' look, obviously he didn't get it._

_Come to think of it, I wonder if he figured it out by now…_

_"Listen, we're in some seriously deep shit here."_

_"Why? What's wrong?"_

_"You know how we usually send off our uniforms to get privately cleaned whenever it gets stained with blood? Well, somehow yours and mine went missing after when we got back last night."_

_My eyes widen at her whispered panicking words. "You're kidding."_

_"I seriously wish I was. The guys are out trying to find them right now. If the Fuhrer's to find out about this…"_

_"We're screwed."_

_"We're more than screwed, we'll be _fucked!_" Mars grabbed a hold of my arm and started to head out of the Command Center. "C'mon, we gotta move! The sooner we find it without Bradley finding out about it, the better."_

* * *

Edward sighed as he was nearly squished up against the train's window by Uncle Alex sitting _right_ next to him. I smirked at him as I sat down across from the two in the opposite seat. I picked up a look of annoyance on Ed's face.

I snorted at this, gaining Ed's attention. "If you think _this_ sucks, you're so wrong, kid."

"Oh yeah?" Ed challenged me with that look of his as he turned towards me.

"Yeah," I held up my hand while I started to flick my fingers out as I started to list my reasons off. "This guy's my _uncle_, believe it or not, who still treats me like a child even though I'm an adult _and_ I outrank him in the military."

Ed's eyes widen at me as before he turned his head back to Uncle Alex before turning back to me. "You don't look anything alike…"

Just when I was about to clear his confusion, Uncle Alex spoke up. "Of course we're related!" He began. "Of course we may not look the same, but we are from the same Armstrong family. We share our family inheritance, name, as well…" He pointed to each of our eyelashes. "We have the same eyelashes!"

"Yes, yes… the eyelashes… Of course." I sighed, crossing my arms and legs. "As long as I don't get that stupid little curl that all you freaks have, I'm not complaining…"

There was a knock on the window, causing all of us to turn our heads to see Maes Hughes standing there. "Hey."

Ed stood up and opened up the window and stuck his head out. "Lieutenant Colonel?"

"The folks at the Eastern Command Center were a little too busy to make it down here today, so I came to see you off instead."

"Great… would you mind telling me…" Ed looked over his shoulder to Uncle Alex. "What the Major's doing here? … Or her?" He asked as Alex's sparkles or whatever they were showed up from nowhere. I furrowed my eyebrows at him, taking the tiniest hint of offense to it before turning back to the window.

"For protection." Hughes simply states. "What would happen if Scar came after you again? You're in no shape for a fight now, Ed. The Major and Lieutenant Colonel's here to help, so just try to grin and bear with it."

"Children can be so stubborn…"

"HEY SHUT UP! I'M NO CHILD!" Ed exploded at Uncle Alex, causing me to plug my ears. Once he calmed down he looked to the both of us. "So anyways, did Al, make it on board?"

"Of course." Uncle Alex began.

I shrugged in my seat as I plugged my ears again. "He put Al in the _livestock_ car."

"I thought he would be lonely without some company-"

"MY BROTHER'S NOT A FARM ANIMAL!"

A bell rung out throughout the station causing Hughes to step away from the train. "Oh, it's time." He stood up and saluted the three of us while the trains started to move. "Okay, you guys have a safe trip. Stop in the next time you make it into Central, you too, Sparrow."

I couldn't help but to smirk as I turned back to Ed and Uncle Alex to see them sitting down. "So, uh, Lieutenant Colonel…" Ed began causing me to smirk.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself yesterday." I held out my left hand for him since he was missing his right. "My name's Lieutenant Colonel Raelisa Sparrow. But you can just call me Rae."

Ed held his hand out to me and took mine in his. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. And my brother in the _livestock_ car is Alphonse." He said glancing at my uncle at the word before turning back to me.

I smiled back at Ed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ed. I've heard some stories about you over the years. Quite interesting tales indeed…"

* * *

_"I can't believe that it's not there…"_

_"That's the Fuhrer's private drycleaners, we have permission to be here… Why are our uniforms not there?!"_

_"This is bullshit!" I face palmed before I crossed the street heading towards Central Command Center. "Our uniforms are somewhere out in the city, and we can't find it. This is officially the worst day of my life. If my mother was to hear about this…"_

_"Your mother knows about you in S.A.F.A.?" Mars asked me curiously._

_"Knows about it-she signed me up for it!"_

_Mars looked at me with furrowed brows. "Who is your mother anyways?"_

_"Would you like to meet her someday?" I asked her with a hint of sarcasm in my voice._

_"…When you say it that way, _no_, I don't." She shook her head. "Well, hopefully the guys found our uniforms by now…"_

_"How mad do you think Bradley would be once he finds this out when we ask for replacements? On a scale of zero to 'fuckin' die, bitches'?"_

_"Dunno. The guy's unreadable, it's fucking hard to tell if he's serious or not."_

_"That's true…" I said shrugging my shoulders._

_It really is hard to tell if Bradley's serious or not on a number of things. The obvious is when he's pissed he gives out that 'I will cut you down' look on everybody, you know that kind of look that will send a shiver up your spine. What _really_ throws me off is how he starts out all serious before breaking out into laughter to make you wanna shout 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' about it._

_What I _didn't_ expect when the two of us climbed through the window leading to the S.A.F.A. room was to see Bradley himself with the other guys. The moment our eyes met, I bit my tongue to stop myself from freaking out. When I took a glance at the other guys I've noticed the nervous look on their faces. Obviously we weren't going to be having a friendly chat if those four are keeping quiet and behaving. "Fuhrer Bradley, sir. What a surprise…" I said, holding back the nervous tone of my voice as much as I possibly can._

_Which wasn't very effective to say the least._

_"Red, Mars," Bradley greeted us, or rather forced us, to enter the room. Once we done that and stood side by side, he spoke once again. "I've heard some rather _disturbingnews_ about the two of you… Are they true?"_

_"It depends, sir, to what the _disturbingnews_ is regards to." I spoke out, the phrase 'oh shit, oh shit' repeating in my mind like a broken record._

_"To Mars pretending that your uniforms were missing so then everyone in S.A.F.A. can throw Red a surprise party for completing her fiftieth successful mission since joining our group."_

_It took me a moment to register Bradley's quick words but I caught on after a few moments. "…What?"_

_The twins' nervous and terrified expressions then turned into a smirk before they brought out a small black hoodless S.A.F.A. uniform from behind them in front of them and held it towards me. My eyes widen as it came to me. "No hood…"_

_"Congratulations, Red for your service in S.A.F.A." Bradley said with a smile on his face._

_I then cleared my throat and turned to Bradley with my arms behind me. "Fuhrer Bradley, sir."_

_"Yes, Red?"_

_"Permission to freely speak my mind."_

_Bradley shrugged his shoulders, his facial expressing showing him thinking, or what I thought anyways, 'Meh, why the hell not.'. "I'll allow it."_

_"Thank you, sir." I nodded my head to him before turning to the S.A.F.A. members and pointed at them. "I hate you," I pointed to Birdy. "I hate you," To Leo. "I hate you," To Février. "I hate you," To Ramon. "And I _especially_ hate you," I said pointing to Mars who gave me a devious smirk. "For all of you lying to me and making me _freakout_."_

_Everybody laughed at me, including the Fuhrer, while I stood up straight and calmed down. Bradley stepped over to me after taking the black uniform from the twins. "Red, I present to you your new uniform." He said holding out the uniform to me before turning to the other S.A.F.A. members. "I'm assuming that you have all chose her title?"_

_"Yes, sir." Everyone said._

_Février stepped up. "After a lengthy period of coming up with a nickname for Red, we all finally came to a conclusion on _one_ name." He began turning his head towards me with a smile on his face. "From here on out, she will be known as… 'Red: The Black Widow'."_

_I couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow to my new nickname picked out for me. I turned my head to the side in confusion as questions started to form. "Why 'Black Widow'?" I asked curiously while taking my uniform from Bradley. "Or better yet, why a _spider?_"_

_"One of your favorite weapons you use in your sneaking missions is using wires." Ramon explained. "We all came to an agreement that you 'strike like a spider' with the wires, hence the name 'Black Widow'. And that thing you do whenever someone attacks you while wearing those armbands, that's pretty neat how you tangle your attackers up head-on when they strike you."_

_Well that makes sense… kinda. I mean, yeah, Ramon's right that I use wires on my missions, and I do have fun with them while using them. Like what he said, I also wear a pair of special armbands, generously given to me from my family – a Armstrong heirloom, if you so call it - over my jacket, which is where I wrap the wires around. I figured out a while ago how to counterattack my enemies when they strike at me with, well, let's say a knife. When the metal comes into contact with my armbands, there's a small transmutation circle in the middle of the armband's design that activates, causing the wires to shoot out and capture them._

_The wires are especially neat to use while taking naps in trees when I'm taking breaks, too…_

_I shook my head inwardly, snapping myself out of my happy trance and I looked down to my uniform in my hands. The hood was gone and was replaced by a high collar, which allows my long hair to flow down my back, which is also good for me. Everything was nearly the same as old uniform other than the hood. A smirk came to my face until I turned the uniform around to see the back…_

_There on the back was two red spots in the shape of an hourglass, which is exactly what a black widow spider has on its back. Seeing this cause me to smirk as I turn my head back up to the people showing the red marks to them, giving them all a look. "Really?" I asked earning a snort from them all. "The hourglass?"_

_"Fits your title." I rolled my eyes at them._

_"All right! Now that's over with, let's have some cake!"_

_"Is there any donuts around?"_

_"Fat-ass…"_

_"I'm not fat!"_

* * *

I was suddenly awoken from my sleep when I heard Uncle Alex call out to somebody outside of the train as we were parked at a station to a small town. He called out to someone named Marcoh, I think…

I turned my head over to Ed and Uncle Alex as Ed questioned if he knew him and Alex replied that he's a State Alchemist from Central who was researching medical alchemy but he went missing after the Ishvalan War. Once Edward heard about that, he dashed out of the train mentioning that Marcoh could know something about bioalchemy, which I suppose that Ed and Al are interested in for researching Human Transmutation. I then stepped off the train with Uncle Alex behind me.

After we grabbed Al off of the train, we started to head out to the town where this Marcoh person was living. After a while of searching we came to find out that Marcoh has been going under the name of 'Mauro', helping the people out with alchemy for little to nothing. We even gotten an address for the guy.

Edward went on ahead up to the door and before long there was a gun shot. I instantly reached for my pistol hidden under my white jacket while I saw the man Uncle Alex called Marcoh pointed a gun to Edward. Once the confusion ended thanks to Uncle Alex chucking Alphonse's crate he was placed in at him, he finally invited us in.

Inside his practice was filled with medical supplies of all sorts. It was a simple doctor's office, nothing much to say about that. His book shelves were filled with medical texts while his cupboards were loaded with vials and bottles of all sorts.

Uncle Alex mentioned that Marcoh took his top secret research with him after fleeing, and Marcoh explained why. Emotional distress over a certain topic, which turned out to be the Philosopher's Stone.

It turns out the research documents Marcoh took were in regards to the Philosopher's Stone and he took the Stone itself as well. Edward questioned the Stone's existence, which resulted in Marcoh showing us the stone, which was not what I expected. Instead of seeing a solid object, the Stone was a liquid base substance. Marcoh then explained just as it has many names, the Philosopher's Stone also takes in different shapes and forms. The one he had on him was an incomplete production of the real thing, though, and he stated that there was no telling when it'll break.

With this in mind, it reminded me of the Philosopher's Stone that Cornello had when Ed stopped him in Reole a while ago. Was this here had the same properties as the Philosopher's Stone Cornello had? More importantly, who gave that guy one in the first place.

I had a lurching feeling in my stomach of who it could be…

My thoughts were interrupted when Edward begged Marcoh to see his research notes, but Marcoh stubbornly refused again and again, even after hearing Ed and Al's tale, before he eventually kicked us all out of his clinic.

In a while, we returned back to the boarding station at the edge of the town and we started to wait for the next train to come by. In the meantime, Uncle Alex questioned him about the Philosopher's Stone that Ed could've taken his Stone by force. Ed agreed and Al stated that they wouldn't want to deprive the town's only doctor like that, but they are grateful that they know that it's real.

"What about you, Major?" Ed asked Uncle Alex as the train started to pull up. "How do you feel about not reporting in on Doctor Marcoh's location?"

"I met a simple small town doctor today… I don't see any reason to report that."

"And how do you feel about it, Colonel?"

I turned my head over to Alphonse in the crate with a raised eyebrow. "About Marcoh and the Philosopher's Stone?" I asked as I crossed my arms. He nodded his head. I turned my head away as I thought for a moment, leaning up against his crate. "Well… from an Lieutenant Colonel's point of view, I could've taken it and report my findings to Bradley about Marcoh when I worked under him, and get it taken away then…" I began before a smirk came to my face. "But as an alchemist, it'll feel wrong for me to just take it like that, kinda like how you guys feel."

"You used to work under the Fuhrer?!" Ed nearly gasped.

I turned my head over to him. "Well, yeah, but I was transferred to be under Colonel Mustang's command." I said before turning my head to the side. "Why are you so surprised about it?"

"How did you get into the military-never mind working for the Fuhrer?"

I caught my eye on Uncle Alex's nervous face, causing me to smirk. This is a typical look he shows whenever someone asks me questions in regards to how I joined the military or how I ended up working under the Fuhrer's command personally and all that. It was that kinda look he gives me, unsure what my answer would be and if I were to reveal to the person my true position in the military. To me his look expressed something like 'you're not going to tell him, are you?' or 'careful not to reveal anything too suspicious, dear niece'. The typical worrying uncle…

Like I'd ever tell anybody up straight that I worked for S.A.F.A., that's just really dumb.

He, he, I can see it now… _Oh you know, Bradley just saw me as a bad-ass, killing machine, so he just hired me to be in a top-secret assassin group doing all these awesome missions and stuff. Cool stuff, but don't tell anyone or I'll stick a knife in your forehead, alright?_

I laughed inwardly as I leant over to Ed, putting up my finger to my lips in a hushing motion. "I have _my_ _secrets_ just like _you_ have _yours_, let's just leave it at that, 'kay?" Ed narrowed his eyes causing me to snort. I patted his head little head. "Oh please, I'm not the bad guy in this thing! Don't give me the stink eye, kid."

"DON'T DO THAT!" Ed freaked out as he waived his arm around aimlessly before knocking my hand away from his head. I couldn't help but to laugh at that.

"Wait!" A voice called out, making us all turn to see Marcoh standing nearby huffing and puffing.

After catching his breath, Marcoh handed Ed a piece of paper telling us that is where he hid his research notes, and maybe then that'll be where he'll find the truth hidden within the truth, whatever that meant. Once clamming up though, Marcoh said his goodbyes to us and wished Ed and Al luck on their journey before heading back to the town, and we stepped on the train and left for the remaining distance to Resembool.

Instead of putting Al back in the storage car or the livestock car like before, we put him beside me in our booth just to get him away from the sheep that he was in. There Ed opened up the piece of paper he received from Marcoh saying 'National Central Library; 1st Branch'.

"I get it. It's like hiding a tree in a forest." Uncle Alex commented. "Finding one book in that giant library will be difficult indeed."

Ed smirked as he turned his head over to the window. "Finally, another clue about the Stone…"

I smiled at the glimmer of hope in Ed's eyes before I turned away to the window. I hope this brings him one step closer to the Stone. I mean, it been _years_ they've had such a promising lead to the Stone. And if not, I'm sure that the brothers would be devastated…

It'd suck for me to be following a pair of moody brothers around the country.

* * *

_**If anybody has any comments or something like that, I more than welcome it. :)**_


	5. Chapter 4 - Red's New Gadget

_**Hello~! Doibz here! Though I shouldn't really be here. Instead of studying for my test for the morning I decided to post up another chapter for Black Widow. (Let's face it, I'll fail it any ways, I always do no matter how much I $%#&* study for it...)**  
_

_**Just a little heads up, there are some coarse language (nothing that even registers to me though), and a few phrases in another language that I have no idea if it's arranged correctly or not... probably not.**_

_**Any ways, I don't own FMA in any way. I just don't.**_

_**I wish I did. That'd be so awesome.**_

_**-Doibz**_

* * *

_The last time I was in Resembool was the day when Ed became a State Alchemist a couple years ago. I remember that day very well indeed. The first thing he and his brother done was gathered whatever they needed for their long journey and they burnt down their home. The sight of the fire was hard to tell where it ended and where the orange sunset skies began. The only thing that helped you to tell where it did was the black smoke that rose up to the sky._

_When I looked back to the burning house I saw two other people with Ed and Al, a short old woman and a young blonde girl, maybe around Ed and Al's age. From what I saw through the binoculars, it looked as if she was crying._

_After Ed and Al said their goodbyes to the pair, they turned and headed out, leaving their burning home to fade away to dust and ash. I took my binoculars away from my face and frowned at the sight in the distance. I knew at this moment that they didn't have any intention of coming back to their home._

_Not for a long time, anyways…_

* * *

When we arrived at Resembool, Ed and Al lead my uncle and I all the way out to an automail shop a long ways away from the town itself. As we grew closer to the building at the end of the road, we were greeted by a barking dog with an automail leg and the short old woman I saw the day Ed and Al left home.

"This is Alex Louis Armstrong," Edward began after Uncle Alex put Al's crate down to shake the old woman's hand. "And this is Raelisa Sparrow."

"I'm Pinako Rockbell." She said shaking my hand before stepping backwards and turned back to Ed. "I know I haven't seen you in a while, Ed. But you've gone and grown… _smaller_." I snorted at this.

"Granny, you've got it wrong. You've supposed to say 'how big you've grown lately, Ed'." Ed said through his teeth as he held in his anger.

"Now why would I say something clearly untrue?"

"I'M STILL TALLER THAN YOU, YOU MINI HAG!"

Suddenly a wrench came flying through the air and smacked Ed across the head before hearing a woman's voice nearby. I turned my head to see the same little blonde girl from that day grown up as a young woman standing up on the balcony of the second floor of their home. After when we were introduced to Ed's automail engineer, Winry Rockbell, we were invited inside the Rockbell home where Winry squealed of carnage to the sight of Ed's broken arm. Ed just apologized like it wasn't a big deal, but that didn't stop it when Winry punched him across the face. She then looked over to Al and questioned why he was busted up too, which resulted in Winry kicking him over to the floor beside his brother. Uncle Alex and I turned to each other with a raised eyebrow while Winry continued to scold them.

Once she was done chewing them out, Ed and Al explained to the two of them about the information we've received recently and that Ed needs a rush job on so he can continue on. Pinako understood it while she inspected his leg, commenting that it needs an adjustment but the arm needs to be built from scratch, which they'll be able to get him back on the road in just three days.

After getting a make shift leg on Ed, Pinako asked Uncle Alex if he'd be nice enough to chop some wood for them, in which he did… in his own way, of course. Yeah, he stripped his shirt off and started to punch through the logs to cut them into kindling. I shook my head while watching him 'chop' away log after log as I kept Alphonse company outside.

"Is he _always_ like that?" Al asked me.

"You don't know the _half_ of it…" I said covering my forehead with my hand.

I then watched as Uncle Alex grabbed a bundle of wood under his arm and returned back inside the home of the Rockbells, sparkling along the way, until Al asked me. "So how long have you been in the military for, Colonel?"

I smirked at Al's politeness as I turned to him. "You don't need to be so formal, Al. I may be a Colonel, but you don't need to call me by my title all the time. We're friends, right?"

Al nodded his head. "Right."

I turned my head away from Al and I turned my eyes to the village in the distant. "I've been in the military a little longer than Ed has, I suppose. My family is known for having someone each generation join the military, and my mother wanted me to keep that up."

"Your mother works in the military?"

"Mm-hm, but not around here, if that's what you're wondering." I began before looking around. "Hey speaking of relatives, where's your brother at?"

"He going to our mother's grave."

I turned my head over to him with wide eyes as my concern for him came to mind. "Don't you want to go, too? I mean, I may not look like it, but I can carry you there if you want."

"No, it's alright. You don't need to go through all that trouble."

I frowned at him. "Okay then." I said as I stood up and patted his helmet. "Well, I'm gonna go inside and see what's going on in there. You want me to bring you in?"

"It's okay. I'll stay out here for a while. Thanks anyways, Col-" I gave him a raised eyebrow, correcting himself. "I mean… _Rae_."

A smile came back to my face as I stood up straight. "'Kay, talk to you later, Al." I said turning away from him and I headed up the stairs back inside the home to see Pinako and Uncle Alex chatting away about Ed and Al, as well as Winry and her unfortunately deceased parents who've died when she was still a child during the Ishvalan Civil War.

After a while of listening to them, Pinako looked up from her working of Ed's leg to the window before standing up to go and start making dinner.

"I best start making dinner. You look like you could eat a lot." Pinako said to Uncle Alex, making him hold up a hand. "Don't worry, there's plenty."

"Oh no, please don't trouble yourself on my account."

"Food always taste better with guests anyways. We have a few empty patient beddings if you want. The boys don't have anywhere else to stay but here. Adding a couple more guests won't be any more inconvenience to us…"

At this moment I turned my head away from them and tuned them out, knowing the rest of Ed and Al's story. I turned my head over to a corkboard behind me to see pictures of Ed, Al, Winry and Pinako. There was even one picture of Ed and Al's family. The picture seemed to be taken when the two of them were about one or so, long before Al was in his suit of armor when he was just a little baby, a cute one by all means, and it made me think what would Alphonse look like if he'd still was in his body…

I bet he would be cuter than his brother.

The mother of them was holding Al while Ed was being held by a man, who I assume was their father, but his face was covered up by another picture's corner. I curiously peeked under the corner to see the man's face. I was surprised to see that Ed look exactly like the bearded man in the picture. I covered up the family picture and turned away from the corkboard. Pinako was already busy making dinner for them while Uncle Alex was sitting at the table drinking some tea, so I decided to go see what Winry's doing in the other room.

I followed the sound of machinery grinding away in one of the rooms and I found Winry sitting at the table. I gently knocked on the doorframe, causing Winry to stop her work and turn her head over to me. "Hi, Winry, mind if I watch?"

"No, go right ahead." Winry said with a smile on her face before turning back to her work in progress.

I stepped into the room with her and headed towards the table while Winry continued to work on Ed's arm design. The whole room was pretty much full of automail parts and pieces just littered everywhere in a organized matter, clearly saying that this was definitely a place for the practice. I looked over her shoulder to her complex plan of Ed's new arm with wide eyes. "Wow, that's impressive… Have you been working on Ed's limbs all this time?" I asked starting up easy conversation. "Were you like, what… eleven, twelve when you did this?"

"Yep, that's me." She said rather proudly.

I smiled at her. "I'm surprised that his automail engineer is no older than him. How did you even get into this stuff anyways?"

"It's something I've been interested in since I was little. My grandmother taught me everything she knows. There isn't a thing I don't know about automail! Just try me."

I felt Winry's sense of love and pride for her work coming off of her as she worked away on a new design on Ed's arm, she kinda reminded me of Mars in a bit. No, not that they kinda looked like each other with the blonde hair and all, but they're both always doing something that no one would expect them to do. Winry's with automail and Mars', well… _anything_ really_. _My eyes wandered over her to her sketches and noticed the amounts of notes of the amount of bolts, screws and whatnot. I brought a hand up to my chin as a memory hit me.

Speaking of Mars…

* * *

_I remember Mars shoving a small blue box with a fancy yellow bow on top of it to me when the two of us were seated in the Central City Headquarters cafeteria. Before I could even ask what the box was about she spoke. "Hey, heard it was your birthday not too long ago…" She said with a smirk on her face._

_I turned to her with questioning eyes. "How-"_

_"I knew it was you birthday? I checked your file."_

_"Perra solapada… (You sneaky bitch…) What's with you guys peeping at my file?" I said narrowing my eyes at her, causing her to laugh. I turned back to the small box at my hands. "What is it? It's not something that'll blow up in my face, will it?"_

_"No, no, I think you'll like it. C'mon, open it up!" Mars urged me as she sat at the table with me._

_I glanced back to her before turning back to the box, slowly opening it up away from me. After when nothing happened, I bravely looked inside and saw a small grey compass-like device in it. My eyebrow raised as I picked it up and inspected it. "…What is it?"_

_"A tracking mechanism in disguise as a compass." She whispered scooting closer to me. "I made it. I thought you'd like to put a tab on that Elric-kid you've been watching over for the past few months."_

_My eyes widen up as I turned to her. "Seriously? You made this?" I questioned._

_"Yep. I've even put up some receivers all around the Eastern area, as well as a few in Central, the south. I didn't get around to put any in the west, and I'm sure as hell not looking forward to bugging the north for _you_. You can do that your-fucking-self."_

_"Who cares, this is awesome, Mars! Thanks!" I said before putting an arm over her shoulder before pulling away. I then looked towards one of the small tracking disks. "But… how am I gonna get one of these things on him without him or his brother knowing about it?"_

* * *

At this moment I smirked at my luck as an idea came to mind. I turned my head over to Winry and her plans before I suddenly left her room and headed to the guest room Uncle Alex and I shared. I pulled out my small suitcase from under the bed and I placed it on the bed. After looking over my shoulder towards the door, I opened up my suitcase by unsealing it with alchemy. I brushed some things away before I pulled out a small grey box with a smirk on my face.

"Gracias, Perra… (Thank you, Bitch…)" I muttered with a smirk as I repacked my suitcase and sealed it back up.

I returned to Winry's workroom with my small compass in my jacket pocket. Winry turned her head around over to me once I closed the door behind me. "Oh, did you just left the room a moment ago? I did even notice you did until now."

"Yeah, sorry about that. That was kinda rude of me…" I began as I stepped back over to her desk as she continued to work away. "Hey, Winry…" I muttered quietly making her head turn towards me. "You care a lot for Ed and Al, don't you?"

I watched Winry's eyes widen before she turned her head away from me. "Of course I do. They're like family to me." She began, her voice growing quiet. "This is the first time we've seen or heard of them since they left Resembool. And they never tell us what they're doing…"

"You worry about them, don't you?"

"Yeah… Always."

I brought out my small tracking compass from my jacket. "Look, you can say no if you don't want to do it, and I don't blame you if you say it's wrong to do it, but…" I said taking out a small tracking disk from the bottom of the compass and I held it over to her in the palm of my hand. She looked down to it before turning back up to me. "If you can somehow put this in one of Ed's limbs without him or Al knowing about it, I'll be able to find him with this thing if Ed and Al ever get into some trouble and help them."

Winry's eyes started to inspect the tiny silver disk as I continued.

"I don't know if you know him, but I work under someone named Colonel Mustang." Her eyes widen at the name, in which I assumed she knew the Colonel in some way, so I continued on. "He's thinking of having me work as Ed and Al's guardian for the time being. By using that thing, it can really help me _help them_." I watched her face as she took a moment to think about it. I couldn't help but to smirk at this as I stood up and I turned to the door. "I'll let you think about it for a while. Let me know about when you-"

"Where…" Winry spoken up finally making me turn my head over to her. She looked over her shoulder to me with a nervous look in her eyes. "Where do you think I should put it?"

_Well that was easier than I thought… Way to go me!_ I thought as a smile came to my face. I stepped over to her as I looked at her plans in front of her. "Well, depends how much room there is." I began before I looked to her plans for Ed's leg. "What about his leg? Can we switch out a screw or something and put this in its place? Somewhere he can't find it or that won't wreck his leg? What do you think Miss. Mechanic?"

"I could… put it in his knee… or his calve. There's some open spaces in the wiring there that he won't be able to get to without wrecking his leg." Winry began before turning away from me and glanced at the small disk in my hand. "Maybe I can replace a screw with it… but the shape of this is all wrong."

"That's fine. I know a little bit of alchemy to change it into a screw head."

Winry stood up and walked over to a box on a shelf nearby and pulled out a screw from it. She turned to me and handed the small screw. "This is a screw that belongs to the back of Ed's knee."

I looked at it and snorted. "This? This is nothing!" I said taking the screw in one hand and I stepped over to Winry's desk and I picked up the tiny tracking disk. I then drew an alchemy circle on a spare piece of paper before placing the screw on it, cutting the head cleanly off. I put aside the head and placed the tracking badge with the screw on my transmutation circle, combining the two into a traceable screw.

I held up my finished product and inspected it. "Do you think it'll work?" Winry asked as she stepped over to me.

"Dunno. I got this a few years ago and this is the first time I've tried anything with it…" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the tracking device and switched it on. The moment I did that, the small device started to blink a red light as the needle of the compass started to spin around violently. Each time the needle spun passed the 'N' graving it made a short ding.

"…What does that mean?" Winry asked as she looked over my shoulder to my dinging-compass.

"It either means it's working perfectly…" I began glancing at the screw in my left hand before turning back to the compass in my right. "Or the one who made this thing is full of crap…"

_Damn it Mars, include an instruction manual with your crazy, dinging inventions…_

A smirk came to my face as Winry turned her head over to me. "But it should work anyway," I said turning off the device and I handed the screw over to Winry before I took my drawn piece of paper and shredded it into pieces. "Well, I'll leave it up to you."

Winry smiled as she took the screw away from me. "Please take care of Ed and Al for me."

"Sure thing, as long as you keep quiet about the tracker." I said nodding my head. She smiled. "I bet Pinako already made dinner. We should go and see."

"Yeah."

We both went to the main room to find Al being moved inside thanks to my uncle and Pinako in the kitchen. The moment Edward returned, Uncle Alex started to go off on a tearful speech of brotherly-love thing after he heard about Ed sacrificing his arm to put Al's soul in the suit of armor, their house burning memento, expressing all his emotion before taking his shirt off _again_ and gave him a bone-crushing hug.

Dinner that night was great with all of us gathered around the table, chatting away, telling stories and all. And straight when we were done, Winry returned to her workroom and started to work on making Ed's arm.

Since then, all you could hear was Winry grind away steel pieces all day and night. Every now and then I'd hear Ed going into the room, making compliments as well as getting in her way – until she ignores him until he leaves or she kicks him out of course.

On the third day, after getting kicked out, Ed went outside with me and Al. Al told him and reminded him that Pinako told them it'll take three days, but his impatience bested over him whenever he thinks about the Philosopher's Stone. After a while of listening to the two of them chat away, Winry came out with a huge smile on her face and a shiny new automail arm in her hands.

They had Ed sat down inside and Pinako and Winry held the new limbs up to him, warning him before they connected the nerves, causing him to grit his teeth. Once they put the finishing touches, Winry couldn't help but to express her love for automail, kinda similar to Uncle Alex the other day, until Ed called her a gear-freak and ruined her mood.

Ed stood up on his two feet and he stretched his limbs out, rather pleased with the outcome. Winry gave him some heads up about his limbs, saying that it's less prone to rusting and that it's not as strong as his last arm before Ed rushed outside to Al waiting outside.

Uncle Alex and I stepped outside and helped Al get his broken pieces to him. "You can fix him right here?"

"Yep, you have to know the trick to it, though." Ed said as he stood up. Al reached up and took his helmet off. "You see that seal on the inside of his back? That's the medium between Al's soul and the armor. So I have to be sure not to ruin it."

I peered inside Al's armor and saw a small red rune on the back of his armor. "Is that… _blood?_" I commented leaning over and looking into Alphonse's armor to see the small red rune.

"Yeah. _My _blood. I was kinda in a hurry." Ed said clapping his hands together before putting his hands on Al, repairing him as one whole suit of armor in just moments. "There you go! You're good as new! You ready to try it out?"

"Yeah!"

And then there they go, off on a sparring match with just the two of them. It wasn't long before Uncle Alex joined them as well – shirtless, of course, making the two brother scatter away from the large guy. I snorted at this as I felt like joining in, but I decided against it.

Maybe another time…

"That idiot's gonna break him arm again, isn't he?!" Winry snarled as I turned away from them and I stepped up to the porch with her and Pinako.

I couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Well, let's just hope he won't." I said stepping over to her side. "Did you put it in?" I whispered to her.

"Yep. I put it in last night when everyone's sleeping." She said. I took my little compass out of my jacket pocket and turned it on, the light was blinking constantly with a little ding, indicating the changing distance between me and Ed as the needle under the glass started to spin before pointing and following Ed. I patted Winry's shoulder as I turned the little machine off. "Nice work, Winry!" I praised her, causing her to smile.

"Raelisa!" I heard Uncle Alex call out to me as I pocketed the tracking compass. I turn my head over to him to see him have a hold on Ed's collar as he tried to escape while Al dashed away abandoning his older brother for dead. "Come and join us in this friendly spar with us!"

I smirked at this as I raised a hand up to him. "Na, not this time, but get a good whack on Ed for me though!" I called out to him, making Ed squeak at this. I snickered at this as Alex gave me a salute before he continued to spar with the brothers.

"You fight, too?" Winry questioned me.

"Of course! You kinda have to when you're in the military and in my position." I said turning my head back to watching Ed and Al being tossed around like little rag dolls by my muscle man of an uncle. I then propped one of my feet up on the railing. "If I wasn't wearing these shoes, I'd probably go out there and knock them all around."

"… What are you capable of _doing?_"

"You _really_ don't wanna know."

That night after having another delicious dinner with the Rockbells and the Elric brothers, Uncle Alex and I eavesdropped and heard Al, Winry, and Pinako talk about Ed as he slept. Al thanked them for the both of them for all their work. I turned my head over to Uncle Alex to see him crying, making me nudge him with my elbow to stop.

"Seriously, Uncle?"

"I can't help it, dear niece. It is such a heartfelt moment that I couldn't resist to shed a tear…" He sobbed quietly as the two of us left the family alone.

I shook my head as I turned away from him. "You know, _this_ is the reason why my mother hates you. You're _way_ too soft for a big guy like you. You're a giant, wimpy, cry-baby."

"…You certainly are my sister's daughter…" He muttered as he started to straighten himself up. He then leant over to me and whispered, "Aren't you a bit worried that you'll give away your position as working with S.A.F.A.? You're acting rather friendly in the last few days…"

"Don't worry about it, Uncle Alex. They won't find out about me… If they ever do, mind you, they'll be having one big funeral service-"

"_Raelisa!_"

"What?! It was a joke!"

Early the next morning, the four of us were packed and ready to go. Ed thanked Pinako one last time before Al noticed that Winry was nowhere in sight. Pinako simply said that she's sleeping since she kept awake for over three nights in a row. We said our goodbyes to Pinako and turned away before we heard Pinako telling Ed and Al to come back for some dinner sometime soon. Soon Winry's voice call out to us, making all of us turn our heads towards the Rockbell home up to her.

There we saw Winry up on the second balcony dressed in pajamas waiving us goodbye tiredly. I turned my head over to Ed and saw him turn his head away from her before waiving her goodbye before we all started to head off back to the train station for a long train ride back to Central.


	6. Chapter 5 - Burnt Away

_**Hiii! Doibz here! Holy crap, as of this update there's been over 200 views for Black Widow! WHAA?!**_

_**He he he! I feel so gitty now! I can't help it! I feel like dancing, even though I should be working... ish, or doing my homework...ish.**_

_**So any ways, here's the next instalment of Black Widow. There's some mature language here and a little bit of some translated pieces here and there. And again, I don't own FMA, still wish I did, but I only own my OCs.**_

_**Enjoy Chapter 5!**_

_**~Doibz**_

_**Oh yeah, remember that test that I mentioned in the last update? Well, let's just say that there's nothing more **_**terrifying _than walking into class while the 'Imperior March' theme song from Star Wars plays from the classroom speakers, and yeah, I failed, by one &^%$ mark too. Apparently I can write but I can't *&^%# read._**

* * *

_I remember a time when I haven't got my collared uniform yet, nearly at the start of my S.A.F.A. career, I was seated at the S.A.F.A. table by myself, waiting for my next assignment to be handed out to me. Just as I was about to take a drink of my coffee, one of the twins jumped on the table, making me flinch as I held my breath._

_"Hey." He said before he tilted his head up before giving me a serious look turn towards me._

_"Um… Hi…" I began before looking up towards his goggles. Red lenses, which means… "You're… Leo, right?" I questioned._

_"Yeah, that's right, I'm glad you remembered…" He said before turning to me, keeping in a squatting position. His face remained dead serious, making me nervous. He then leant over towards me, his arms between his legs to keep him balanced although his face was dangerously close to mine, his goggles were nearly touching my head. "Tell me, Red… Do you know what day it is?"_

_I blinked at this question, unsure what to say. What day it is? Was I supposed to know something?! How was I supposed to know?! I just started S.A.F.A.!_

… _Don't tell me it's his birthday or something…_

_"Um… What day is it today?" I asked, keeping myself calm as much as I can._

_"You don't _know?_" Leo expressed calmly, though his eyes narrowed at this. When that happened, I started to get panicky. I didn't know what to do or what to say at this point, which lead me to remain silent. Before I _could_ say something, he then spoke up. "Well, that's too bad… I thought you knew…"_

_I swallowed hard before I spoke up. "Knew what?"_

_"That it's WHACKING DAY!" He then exploded with a huge smile on his face._

_The very first thing that came to mind was 'What the fuck?!' at this as my face when blank. Right when I was going to say something to him, he started to laugh. "You should've seen the look on your face! That was priceless! You thought I was a bad guy!" He huffed in between laughter before he was quickly silenced when the table moved under him, causing him to wobble before falling over the edge of the table, face first on the linoleum flooring._

_"Shut up and quit making her nervous." The other twin called out as Leo moaned in pain. He turned his head over to me with a sympathetic smile on his face. "Sorry 'bout that, just ignore him… He's the misbehaving side of us, if you know what I mean…"_

_Leo grumbled before he sat up and slung an arm on the table before giving Birdy a glare. "What the hell was that all about, man?! That hurt!" He paused before he touched his nose. "You're lucky that I didn't bleed or you broke my nose…"_

_"Or what? You're going to beat me up? If you do, wouldn't that be just like punching yourself in the face?"_

_"Wha-SHUT UP!"_

_"What the hell is 'Whacking Day'?" I suddenly questioned, making them stop bickering at each other._

_"That's just my fun little way of saying that it's a _assassination mission!_" Leo said with a smirk. Clearly he seemed to like these assassination assignments if he's like this._

_"Yeah, well, that's not going to be happening this time." Birdy spoke out with a sigh._

_"What?! I got stoked and pumped up for this?! This stinks!"_

_In the end, it turned out that I was to partake that mission with the two of them. Although it wasn't a 'whacking' mission, the three of us were sent on a inspecting mission to the west. Since I joined S.A.F.A. and was introduced to the twins, I couldn't for the life of me stop thinking about why Birdy was named 'Oiseau' in the first place. And I couldn't help myself but to ask them._

_"Hey, Birdy," I said turning my head over to him, making him turn his eyes over to me from behind his yellow goggles. "How come you're named 'Oiseau', anyways?"_

_I watched as Birdy turned his eyes away from me as a look of annoyance came to his face as he let out a groan. Leo laughed at this as he crouched over to my side. "He's _ornithophobic_."_

_My eyes widen at this once I figured it out. "… He's scared of birds?" I questioned as Birdy's head dropped down in what seemed like shame. I turned to him. "How is _that_ the reason you're named Oiseau?"_

_"I'm going up ahead…" Birdy snarled as he turned his radio on, obviously irritated about the topic Leo and I were discussing at hand._

_"Roger." Leo said as the two of us turned our radios on as well. He turned his head over to me while putting his back up against the ledge we hid behind, his red tinted goggles glistened in the moon light. "It's kinda a long story…"_

_"Tell me anyways." I said as I turned and started to keep watch._

_"When the two of us were just little, we were playing catch around in a park with a lot of trees. When my brother threw the ball, it got stuck up in one of the branches of the trees, apparently crushing a swallow's nest and the eggs. He climbed up the tree to go get our ball back and he started to get attacked by the bird, making him fall out of the tree and screaming away all the way back home until the bird stopped pecking and scratching him. I guess since then he developed the phobia of birds. He can't function right whenever a bird's around, no matter the size of it."_

_I frowned at this. "That's kinda sad."_

_"Yeah, but sometimes, it's soo funny." Leo smirked at me, making me glance over at him. He then nudged me with his elbow. "Hey, next time you happen to be behind him, _whistle_."_

_I couldn't help but to snort at this. "Why?"_

_"You'll see."_

_Our radios beeped in before Birdy's voice broke through our headphones. "Are you guys done making fun of me yet? 'Cause I think you guys should shut the fuck up and get your asses over here and see this."_

_Leo and I laughed quietly at this until I replied to him. "Roger. We'll be at your location in a few minutes." I said before taking my finger off the button of my headphones before flipping my hood on my head. I turned my head over to Leo with a snort as we started to head out, sneaking around through the shadows. "So, how did Bradley get to name him Oiseau?"_

_"When the two of us were in Bradley's office being accepted into S.A.F.A. about five years ago, a pidgin perched itself on one of the windowsills, making him freeze up like a statue, not taking his eyes off of it almost throughout the entire time we were in there." Leo said as the two of us made our way across the buildings quietly. "Eventually Bradley noticed this and asked us why he was looking at it and I told him he was scared of birds. So while I was named Leo, as in Leo the Lion, brave and courageous, my brother was named Oiseau because of his fear of birds."_

_I snorted at this, totally seeing the whole conversation between the twins and Bradley that day over five years ago as I climbed up on top of a rooftop before turning to Leo to help him up. "So where did the name 'Birdy' come from?"_

_"It was a lot easier and funnier to say than 'Oiseau'."_

_"If it were to me, I would've called him something like 'Oi'."_

_"Yeah, but then people be confused thinking that you're calling them instead of Birdy. So Birdy just kinda stuck."_

_I shook my head at this. "Fear of birds… That must be embarrassing to admit that when he's out on dates."_

_Leo let out a sigh that clearly expressed 'well…', making me turn my head over to him. "To tell you the truth, he's kinda shy when it comes to relationships… and women."_

_I stopped in my tracks and gave him a look of doubt. "Birdy?"_

_"Yep."_

_"Him? Shy? I doubt that."_

_"It's true. He's used to hanging around you and Mars 'cause we're working together. Try flirting with him."_

_I snorted at this as we arrived by Birdy's side, and I noticed Birdy has his head turned to the two of us with an irritated look on his face, even though I couldn't see his eyes through his yellow goggles. "What are you laughing at now, Red-Head?"_

_"Nothing, Sweetie." I said testing Leo's suggestion, making Birdy's cheeks turn bright pink before he spun his head over to the window he was looking through before, hiding his face behind his open collar. I turned my eyes over to his brother seeing him chuckle under his breath, trying to not burst out into laughter as he gave me the look saying 'See? I told you!'. I turned back to the window Birdy was looking. "Okay, so what do we got in here?"_

_"Looks like the rumors were true after all… Look at all those crates."_

_"Illegal weapon transportation… Should we report in to Bradley or take these guys out right here and now?"_

_Leo smirked at this as he pulled out a silver coin from one of his pockets. "Heads we play it safe, tails we go have some fun."_

* * *

The moment we stepped up to Central's 1st Branch Library, Ed let out a frustrated shout at the sight before us. "DOCTOR MARCOH'S RESEARCH… IT'S ALL GONE!"

I turned my head over to the remains of the library. Somebody lit the library on fire, destroying all of its contents into ashes, along with the research material Marcoh hid inside it. Judging from the looks of it, the fire must have happened yesterday. Not a single book remained in the closed down library, and all the ashes were scattered so it was impossible to use alchemy to repair the books. It was obvious to me that someone was following us and when they found out that Ed was looking for the answers to the Philosopher's Stone, that person found out where Marcoh's research notes were and burnt the whole building down to erase its existence while we were in Resembool.

Ed stepped up to the remains of the building and tried to pick up a burnt book, but when he did it dissolved into ashes, scattering in the light breeze. "There's nothing here… It's all gone…"

A voice called out behind us to Uncle Alex. When we turned around there were two soldiers whom I recognized as Uncle Alex's subordinates, Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh. Ross told Uncle Alex to report back to the Command Center while Brosh said that they'll be looking over Ed and Al starting immediately.

Uncle Alex was rather content with this while Ed started to complain about it. I snorted at this while Al turned to me. "Where are you gonna go, Rae?" He asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked up to him. "Back to the Command Center, I guess. Don't really have all that much to do." I said before I turned my head away with a scowl. "Plus I don't wanna deal with Bradley just yet…"

"Well… Why don't you tag along with us for a while-"

"DON'T ASK HER TO COME ALONG WITH US, AL!" Ed interrupted his younger brother.

I turned to Ed with a pout. "Whaa? Why don't you want me tagging along? You're a mean little guy-"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOO SHORT TO SEE OVER A PEBBLE?!" He shouted at me, making me snort as I got him in a headlock and I gave him a terrible nuggie.

"Aw, don't be like that, Ed! You know I didn't say anything like that!" I began as he started to squeal. "Besides, it's _rude_ to interrupt someone in the middle of their own sentence. No manners at all."

I let Ed squirm out of my arm as he put his hands on his now sore head, which he'll probably have a headache for a week from my fist (or so I'm told anyways). He then started to complain on why there needs to be more bodyguards following him and Al.

I snorted at this as we stepped inside the car Brosh and Ross came here with. "Isn't it obvious, Edward?" I began crossing my arms. "Scar's still at large in East City. Even if he's still there right now, we still need to be cautious about it. Which means you'll have to have bodyguards at all times, until the heat blows down, mind you."

Ed let out a little huff in defeat as he turned his head away from me, reminding me of how childish he can still be. Ross then mentioned that maybe the Main Branch Library might know somebody who could help Ed and Al. When we stepped inside and Ed asked the lady at the front desk about any research documents under the name Tim Marcoh, or anything labelled as the Philosopher's Stone, nothing came up or if it was, it burnt along with the 1st Branch Library. But all hope wasn't completely lost. She gave the two an address to a woman by the name of Sheska who used to work at the library and might be of some help to the Elrics.

I dropped my elbow on the car door while Ed and Al introduced themselves to Ross and Brosh while Brosh questioned Al to why he's wearing the armor. The brothers turned to each other before turning back to the two soldiers nervously, replying 'it's a hobby!'. I rolled my eyes with a smirk on his face as the two soldiers beside me started to whisper to each other about Ed and Al. I wonder how long that'll go for…

When we arrived at Sheska's address, we were surprised and greeted by rows and rows of books. Talk about a hoarder…

We then finally found the woman under a pile of books, greeted with her, and listened to her tale of woe, Ed asked her if she remember reading anything under the name of Tim Marcoh, in which she surprisingly did remember. Ed was both thrilled and miserable after learning about that until Sheska said that she remembers every word in the notes, in other words she has a photographic memory that can help Ed and Al by writing out the documents for them.

In the meantime while she was writing the notes down, in which I assumed that it'll take a while to do, I told Ed and Al to give me a shout once they heard that Sheska finished making a copy for them before I headed back to Central Command.

On my way there, I found myself walking behind the twins. The two were walking in the same direction as I was, chatting away with each other and I assumed that they haven't noticed me yet. Even though their backs were facing me, I could easily tell who's who. Birdy was cleanly dressed in a suit, his button up shirt was untucked from his pants, letting his yellow shirt hang loosely out from the bottom of his jacket. Leo on the other hand was dressed like he's ready to join a gang of some kind and start a fight with someone with that vest and baggy pants on him and yet he's wearing a silver watch on his left wrist. It's funny really, no matter how much they look alike, they're pretty much the same no matter how they act…

And at this moment, I couldn't help but to let out a devious smirk as I quietly tip-toed over to the two…

And whistled.

Birdy jumped up in the air with a shout, or rather a _squeal_, before he grabbed onto a lamppost nearby and spun his head over to me. Leo and I burst out into laughter while Birdy gave me a glare. "Perra! (Bitch!) What the hell was that for?!" He shouted at me.

I was laughing so hard I could hardly stand up I had to lean up against Leo's shoulder. "That girlish scream…! That was fucking hilarious…!"

"Not as hilarious when he ran right into the display window!"

"Oh yeah! That's even funnier!" I said laughing even harder. I swear, if something funnier happens in the next five seconds I think I'm gonna die.

Leo put an arm over my shoulder and helped me stand straight. "Good to see you back soon, Red." He said as Birdy climbed back down the lamppost with his teeth gritted as his cheeks aflame.

"Yeah, welcome back to Central…" Birdy replied sarcastically, making me calm down and let out a little pout.

"Aw, Birdy-Bird's mad at me again…" I pouted as I stepped over to Birdy, pinching his cheek as he glared down at me with his arms crossed over his chest. "C'mon… don't be like that! You seriously need to get more work done on that bird-a-phobia."

"It's _ornithophobia_. And I _am_ getting help with that." He said turning his head away, freeing his cheek from my fingers before turning to the side. "Those big ostriches still scare the shit out of me and the talking ones still get to me… They're like… little demons with those creepy little eyes… Mimicking every single word you say…" He said before he shuddered. "Like that little creepy thing you have!"

I gasped at him before I jabbed him in the shoulder. "Don't you dare make such remarks about little Birdy-Boo! I'll unleash him on you!"

* * *

_It's true. I do have a pet parrot, a budgie, and he's so adorable when he talks. I named him Birdy-Boo, after Birdy and his little phobia. I didn't really intentionally wanted to keep him in the beginning, but he kinda grew on me and I just could say no to those curious, beady little eyes of his._

_It started when I learned of Birdy's fear of birds. It bothered me so much that even when it's just the two of us on a mission together, we always had to avoid any and every contact with a bird we come around, which is really difficult on stalking missions when he lets out a that little squeal he has specifically for birds. And I had enough of it. _Allofus_ at S.A.F.A. had enough of it. One time after completing a mission down south on my own about two years or so ago, I stopped at a pet shop and bought Birdy-Boo to help Birdy with his phobia. I even took the little guy home with me and had him trained enough to take him with me to the S.A.F.A. room._

_I remember the day like it was yesterday… It's really hard _not_ to forget. I covered up Birdy-Boo's little cage and stepped inside the S.A.F.A. room when Birdy was seated at the table. The day before, I told everybody else, but Birdy, that we're going to help him with his little phobia he got going on and everybody quickly agreed to it, much to my surprise._

_Birdy was seated at the table in the small room. Ramon and Février were behind him from keeping him from escaping while Mars and Leo were off to the side with Mars having a camera in her pocket, 'just in case', she told me. Birdy didn't know what was going on at the time, making him nervous._

_"Okay, Birdy…" I began. "You seriously have a problem with that bird phobia of yours and it needs to stop, or at least have it under control."_

_At this moment Birdy was looking around the room to the other S.A.F.A. members, each of them with their own serious look on their face. He turned back to me. "O…kay…?"_

_"Which is why we're going to help you today, as in _rightnow_." I said putting the small bird cage on the table, making Birdy look at it as I put my hand on the cover. "Birdy, meet Little Birdy."_

_The moment I unveiled the little parrot, Birdy's eyes widen as if they were going to pop out of his skull. He just sat there with a absolute terrified look on his face, frozen in place, as the little blue parrot started to whistle and hop around the perches inside his cage._

_"What the hell-_Why_ the hell did you name that thing after _me_…?!" Birdy stuttered as I stepped over to the table bringing my hands over to the cage. "DON'T TOUCH IT! IT'LL BITE YOUR FINGERS OFF!"_

_"No he won't. He's just a sweet little cuddly thing that just want some _love_." I said bringing the cage closer to Birdy, making him lean back in his chair to stay as far away from it as possible. "_So love it_."_

_Mars stepped up and leant on the table. "Aw, look at him… This little guy can't be an evil little monster…"_

_"Oh, that's where you're _wrong!_" Birdy retorted. "They're evil! They'll turn on you! They'll scratch you! They'll peck your eyes out of your own skull!"_

_Just when he was about to stand up, Février and Ramon put their hands on his shoulders and forced him to sit down. "I don't think so…"_

_"You need to deal with this right now, man."_

_Birdy shook his head furiously. "Nuh-uh! NUH-UH! No. I won't do it. Lemme go. LEMME GOO!"_

_"Oh, shut up. It's not like he can get out and peck your eyes out, you big cry-baby." I snapped at him as I unlatched the cage door open._

_"Wh-Wh-What are you doing? Red? RED?!" Birdy started to panic as I opened up the cage door and stuck my hand inside the cage, prompting Birdy to reach up and put his yellow goggles over his eyes once the little bird hopped on my hand._

_I slowly brought the little parrot out and held it beside me. "See? He's not going to do anything. He won't peck. He won't scratch. He won't bite." I said stepping over to Birdy, his eyes never leaving Little Birdy. I held out my hand with Little Birdy out to him. "He likes to be scratched behind his head. Pet him."_

_Birdy shook his head furiously. "Nuh-uh."_

_"Just do it."_

_"Kill it before it kills you."_

_"It's a little bird for crying out loud. What's the worst it can do?"_

_"Peck and scratch my eyes-"_

_"JUST PET THE FUCKING BIRD!" We all told him, making him flinch._

_I turned my eyes over to see Birdy's hand slowly make its way from under the table. Birdy-Boo turned his little head over to him as his hand slowly made its way over to him. After what seemed like an hour of holding the bird there for Birdy to pet _once_, Birdy finally touched the bird's back before his hand shot back to his body._

_"I did it…" He said with a smile before he glared at it. "Now kill it."_

_We all let out a sigh as I dropped the little bird on the table, allowing it to run around looking around the room curiously. "This is gonna take longer than I thought…"_

_And it did… We all practically stayed in that room for the entire day since all of us never had a mission to go off to. It took us a while, but eventually Birdy manned up and held Birdy-Boo… for like five seconds before putting him back on the table once Birdy-Boo made a tiny peep, freaking Birdy out to the point where he ran out of the room. He might have been crying, but I don't know. Defeated, we let him go without chasing after him._

_"So what are you going to do with the little guy?" Mars asked me as she picked up Birdy-Boo and scratched its head._

_"Well, keep him I guess. I can't say no to a little face like his."_

_Février let out a snort towards me, making Ramon turn his head over to him. "What's so funny?" He asks curiously._

_"You know what they say… Never go on a date with a woman who has a snake or a bird."_

_Ramon's eyes narrowed as his eyebrows furrowed. "…Why?"_

_"She's nuts." He said making the men in the group laugh as well as making me turn my head over to him with a look of my own, making him hold up his hands in defense. "Hey, don't give me that look."_

* * *

The three of us returned back to the S.A.F.A. room and I met up with the whole gang. I told them about the Philosopher's Stone that Cornello had in Reole, finding Doctor Marcoh in the east as well as the research notes he had about the Philosopher's Stone that Ed and Al are so interested in finding.

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Leo questioned.

"I thought it was only a myth… but for it to actually _exist_…" Mars muttered.

"So… that's what the Doctor was researching during the Ishvalan Civil War?" Fév said looking down to Marcoh's file in his hand. "That seems to explain the amount of ease the military had during the extermination."

"Seems like it." I said. "Anyways, he hid his research notes somewhere inside the 1st Branch Library."

"Well that's no good to us. The Library's burnt down to the ground." Birdy said crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I know. I'm betting someone was following us around until we found Doctor Marcoh. They must of forced the location of the notes out of him. But before they could even find it, they thought it'd be easier to burn the place down instead of looking in each shelf for it."

"So what're the Elrics doing now?"

"Luckily someone who used to work at the Library has a photographic memory and said she can produce a flawless copy of Marcoh's notes for them by hand. They're just waiting for the call when she's done. It'll probably take a few days, but still…"

Fév sighed at this as he put Marcoh's file down on the table, crossing his arms. "When you do find out about what Marcoh's research consists of in regards to the Philosopher's Stone, report back to us and give us the findings." He said, I nodded my head. He then turned his head over to the other S.A.F.A. members. "In the meantime, we'd better keep an eye out on Marcoh in case anybody have any plans for him soon."

"I'll volunteer for that." Leo spoke up as he raised his hand up.

"'Kay then. Red," Fév turned back to me. "I got a feeling that you should stay with Fullmetal for a little while longer, until we can figure out what they're planning…"

"My thought's exactly." I said with a nod.

"Everything's dealt with then? Good. Make sure not to mention this to Bradley at all."

After when Février dismissed us, I had nothing much to do after that, so I left the S.A.F.A. room and returned to my Central home with my relatives. The Armstrong estate itself is huge. I can see why though, I mean, the majority of the family is Uncle Alex's size, seriously. Even some of the women here are as big and beefy as he is, which is seriously scary if you're not used to seeing a bulldozer for a woman.

My family is an unusual bunch…

The moment I stepped inside the large building, I was immediately greeted by the head, my grandfather, Philip Gargantos Armstrong and his wife before I bumped into my aunts, Amue, Strongie, and the youngest Catherine, who's not too much older than I am. Out of all of the Armstrongs in my family, you would think that the little shy Catherine would be the most normal person in the whole household.

You're so damn wrong about it.

This is the Armstrong family we're talking about here. Yeah, Catherine may be a skinny little girl out of all of the large female version of Uncle Alex, but hell, she's _definitely_ an Armstrong. I mean, she can pick up a grand piano and hold it over her head – _with_ _one_ _hand_. I mean, I could too, but still!

My family, _again_, is an unusual bunch…

After reacquainting myself with my relatives, Catherine and I went to my bedroom to where I was greeted by Birdy-Boo, which he was already whistling like crazy and hopping all around the cage the moment he heard my voice from the hallways.

Whenever I do leave home to go on missions as a S.A.F.A. member, Catherine took the liberty of looking after little Birdy-Boo for me. She even got him to say a few words, like 'Hello', 'Auntie', and my favorite, 'Bir-_deee!_' with a sing-songy tone to it. And every now and then you'd hear him saying 'Bir-deee' so suddenly, and I just can't help but to laugh and think that he's calling for Birdy.

A huge smile came to my face as I stepped over to the cage. "Hi, Birdy-Boo. Miss me?" I said opening his cage and picking the little blue guy up in my hand, prompting him to jump on my hand and start whistling a cheery tune. "Aw, you're so cuuute! I'm so happy I kept you!"

"So how long are you going to be staying here for, Rae?" Catherine asked me curiously.

I let out a sigh as I turned my eyes up towards the ceiling. "Depends on how long my clients will be staying here in Central." I began. "I don't think they'll be leaving for quite some time though. They're in the middle of a hot-tip right now…"

My aunt smiled at this as placed Birdy-Boo back in his cage. "You're so lucky to have such a cool job like this. You get to go places all around the country, meet new people, see new things…"

I smiled at this as I turned my head over to her. "Yeah, well, then again you gotta remember that it's not all fun and games. I still have a job to…" I then trailed off as I thought to myself that a lot of my missions really is fun and games… to me, anyways.

Like making appearance and height references to Fév (even though his like a half inch taller than I am), seeing how red I can make Birdy's face go on missions, getting into trouble with Leo, teasing Mars about her geekiness…

If my mother was to hear about me fooling around when I should be serious…

"Rae?" Catherine called out to me making me snap out of my trance.

I cleared my throat as I continued. "As I was saying, I still have a job to do…" I paused. "Even if it means keeping my mother in the dark about my… _side-adventures_."

Catherine snickered at this. "Don't worry about it. I won't tell her a thing. Besides, I like hearing your stories. They're interesting."

* * *

A few days later, I received a phone call from Février that Edward and Alphonse received a call from Sheska that she finished reproduced Marcoh's work. Before I hung up the phone, Fév reminded me of my duties.

"_S.A.F.A. first, friends second._"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" I simply replied before I said my goodbyes.

I met up with Ed, Al, as well as Ross and Brosh at Sheska's address. When we went inside, we were all shocked by the amount of papers that she had written down. Stacks of papers were piled up on a desk nearby. When I was told that these were Doctor Marcoh's notes, I'd expect it to be in a couple thick books…

Not a recipe book.

Brosh and Ross had their doubts about Sheska's reproduction, but Ed and Al seemed to be positive about it. I myself took a peek at some of the notes, which I noticed that they were really disguised as a recipe book. I couldn't decipher some of the phrases where I was now, but if I was seated down and motivated enough I could possibly.

After when Ed paid Sheska for her work, I helped them carry all of the notes to the Main Library where Ed and Al could work with all of the books in the library as references. When we arrived, Brosh questioned how could a few cook books have something to do with alchemy. Ed simply said that alchemists put their research in code, and since it is said that alchemy originated in the kitchen, decoding Marcoh's notes should be a snap.

They were wrong.

The next time I went to check up on the Elric brothers about a couple days later, the two of them were exhausted and were struggling to decode Marcoh's notes. I couldn't help but to snicker at them.

"Hey, guys. Any luck yet?" I asked, all knowing their answer ahead of time.

The two of them groaned before Ed spoke up. "Why does this inscription have to be so damn hard to figure out…?"

"…I'm guessing that's a 'not yet'?"

"Brother…" Al spoke up. "Maybe we should ask Doctor Marcoh about this directly…?"

"NO WAY! That'd be admitting _defeat!_"

"I don't recall this being a contest, Ed." I reminded him.

"Shut up! You're an alchemist, too, right? Why aren't you helping us?" Ed retorted making me shrug my shoulders.

"I'm not claiming myself as an expert alchemist, Ed. If I did, I'd probably be a State Alchemist like you." I told him. "Besides, I don't know that much about alchemy as the two of you do." I lied. "You guys are better off figuring this thing out on your own."

A quiet voice called out to us as Ed gave me a glare. I turned around and saw Sheska standing there at the doorway. She stepped inside the room and thanked Ed for the generous payment before asking them about if they had any luck deciphering the notes, which they sulked over before Sheska done the same once Al asked her if she found a new job. I couldn't help but to laugh inwardly at this until we heard a loud and familiar 'YO!' coming from the door behind me.

Hughes came in saying that Uncle Alex told him we were here and that he reminded Ed that he wanted him to call Hughes once we came back to Central, but Ed came up with an excuse for it, but Hughes was happy enough to dismiss it. After finally cooling off, he started to explain that he's been having a lot of problems since the library burnt down with all of their case records stored in there.

The moment he said that, the Elrics turned their heads over to Sheska, and before long, they explained to Hughes how incredible Sheska's memory was so much that Hughes hired her on the spot to recreate the missing files he needed before being dragged away from the room once Hughes was finished with us.

When they left, Ed sighed and the two brothers had the motivation to continue working on decoding the notes.

By the end of the tenth day came by, I decided to pop on in to see how the brothers were doing before I headed back home. I found Ross and Brosh open the door after hearing Edward shout something. When I poked my head around the corner of the door, I found the two brothers on the floor with all of the books and notes on the floor, both of them looking distress.

My concern for the situation started to rise. "Ed, Al? Are you all right in here? What happened?"

"What'd did you guys do to this place?"

"Don't get angry 'cause you can't crack it. Throwing things won't help."

"We _did_ crack it…" Al finally spoke up. "We cracked the code and decrypted the notes…"

While Ross and Brosh were surprised and thrilled of it, I kept my attention to the brothers noticing the lack of optimism in their accomplishment. And then Edward revealed the secret to us of the main ingredient to make a Philosopher's Stone…

_Human life._

The moment he said that, my eyes widen as I finally realized how bad this was turning into. To make one stone there must be a number of sacrifices. With this in mind, it only made me think of one thing. How many humans will die because of this?

Ed asked Ross and Brosh to keep quiet about this, and to not speak about this to anyone. He then turned to me with that look of his, that look of desperation. "Rae." He began. "Are you going to tell Bradley about this?"

I was surprised by this sudden question before I gave him a smile of assurance. "Don't worry about it." I began. "Bradley won't hear anything from me. You can count on that."

It was then that Edward finally smiled honestly at me for the first time.

Later that evening, I met up with Uncle Alex who was going to check up on the Elrics at the military hotel downtown Central. We stepped inside the lobby to see Ross and Brosh at the front desk. Uncle Alex questioned if Ed and Al were here, but the two of them replied that the two of them were held up in their rooms exhausted.

"Yes, they haven't been eating either…" Ross began.

Uncle Alex let out a sigh before he turned away. "Fatigue must be catching up to them… They seem to devote all of their energy to these notes…"

I turned my eyes over to the two soldiers to see them turn their backs to Uncle Alex, whispering something to each other, in which I assume they were discussing about the Philosopher's Stone, which is also a bad thing when Uncle Alex is around.

When Uncle Alex turned around to them questioning a word they spoke, they both turned around nervously. But Uncle Alex glanced over to me and noticed the look on my face before turning back to the two, towering over them with his shirt off… surprisingly.

"Your behavior is _most suspicious_…" He began as the two soldiers started to panic, and before long they revealed to Uncle Alex about the research the Elric brothers were looking into as well as the Philosopher's Stone's secrets.

I face palmed this before I turned back to the pair of soldiers, giving them a look of 'you guys are fucking idiots' while my idiot uncle stormed up the stairs up to the brothers' room. I followed him up with the two blabber-mouths of soldiers behind me.

After calling out to them a few times while trying to open the door, Uncle Alex finally broke through with the broken door handle in his hand. And then he started to go off about the tragedies of the truth of the Philosopher's Stone. Edwards immediately turned to me with a look of 'you betrayed me' on his face. I gave him a straight face and shook my head before thumbing over to the two soldiers behind me, causing Ed to turn his look over to them, forcing them to apologize to them.

It was when Uncle Alex said something that made Ed realize something that Marcoh said to them.

"'The truth hidden within the truth'… I didn't have a clue what he meant then. It's the same with alchemical notes. What you can see on the surface is only a portion of the truth. There's still more to find here. There has to be…"

In minutes, Uncle Alex brought out a map of Central and spread it over the coffee table inside the Elrics room and everyone was gathered around it.

"Currently there are four operational alchemy laboratories in Central that have connection to the government." He began. "We can narrow it down even further. Marcoh worked in the Third Laboratory. We should start with that one, the most suspected."

Ed sighed at this as Uncle Alex pointed at the lab on the map. "Al and I have been to all of the laboratories in the city. None of them were doing any remarkable research."

Something caught Edward's eye, causing him to point on the map to a building with a large red 'X' over it. I leant over and looked at it and recognized it to be the Fifth Laboratory. "Here. What's this building used for?"

"It was designed for the Fifth Laboratory, but it isn't currently in use. The building isn't structurally sound, so it's been classified off-limits."

"It's there."

I turned my head over to him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean 'it's there'?"

"How can you be so sure?"

"There's a prison next door."

Ah…That makes sense to me. The main ingredient to a Philosopher's Stone is living humans. Nobody would question a inmate on death row once they go missing. Why not use inmates as ingredients. Then the military would just label them as executed or deceased, and that's the end of that. Nobody would hear of them again.

The military is for certain involved in all of this. This information is crucial for S.A.F.A.. I best tell this new information to everyone tomorrow morning.

"This has the potential to becoming a political nightmare before long." Uncle Alex said as he rolled up the map in his hand and headed towards the door. "I'll look into what we've talked about tonight. In the meantime, officers, you _will_ _not_ speak of this to no one."

"Sir!"

He turned over to the Elrics. "And you, Elrics Brothers, _BEHAVE YOURSELF!_" He said making them flinch. He then grew angry and looked down upon them. "I know you two boys… You were thinking of sneaking in this building and taking a look around, weren't you?! _ADMIT IT!_"

"WE WEREN'T! WE WEREN'T! WE PROMISE!"

"Good." I said standing up from the couch's arm before I turned my head over to Edward and Alphonse. "'Cause if you do, I might slip out to Bradley about what you're up to… Or maybe I could resort to something _even_ _worse_." I said with a sinister grin making them tremble together.

I couldn't help but to laugh at this as I turned to my uncle. "Well, should we get back home, then, Uncle?"

"Yes, it seems though we are done here for tonight." He said nodding his head before turning back to the group of people in the room. "Well, good night everyone. We will see you tomorrow morning."

Uncle Alex and I left the Elrics' room and we started to head down the stairs back to the lobby. "Raelisa…" Uncle Alex uttered to me, making me turn my head over to him. "Do you have the same feeling as I do about those two?"

I turned away from him with a smirk. "Of course I do. They may be still kids, but they're still _pretty bad liars_. I can see in Ed's eyes way too easily." I began. "Don't worry about them, I'll keep an eye on them _and_ the Laboratory tonight."


End file.
